


Number 17

by orphan_account



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - High School, Football, Homophobia, M/M, Soccer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-28
Updated: 2013-10-28
Packaged: 2017-12-13 06:20:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 34,981
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/821037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There was no denying that Louis was talented, dodging oncoming attackers with the ball constantly at his feet, maintaining an impressive speed all the while. His damp fringe was pushed to one side and cheeks were flushed, mud across his knees and the material of his shirt clinging tight to his torso, whilst the black armband reading ‘captain’ was clenched around his bicep.</p><p>-</p><p>Sixth-form AU where Liam is the coach's son and his dad's star player is Louis Tomlinson, who is trying to get scouted by a professional football club, and though slightly jealous of the attention Louis gets from his dad; Liam’s also upset about the fact he’s had a dumb little crush on the football star for the last year or so.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> this work isn't beta'd so any mistakes are my own
> 
>  _disclaimer:_ i dont own one direction ~~(unfortunately)~~ and also this work is entirely fictional and i would rather it was not shared with anybody portrayed in it, i am merely using the characters of the boys for a plotline in my head. 
> 
> this fic dedicated to Meg because she puts up with me randomly texting her ideas at midnight and i literally couldn't do anything at all without her ♥
> 
> I have no idea how you really get signed by a club. This is probably just the faintest resemblance of the process you need in real life to get signed, so don't take my word for how it happens. This is fiction.

**  
**

“C’mon boys, move it!” echoed the voice of Geoff Payne as eleven boys in black and white football kits weaved in and out of the fluorescent orange cones laid out in a line on the grass. “Pick up the pace. Stan! What the hell are you doing? Turn right at the end!” the coach sighed, shaking his head slightly. “Right. Go fetch a ball each, we’re doing the same thing just dribbling now,”

The boys complied, jogging over to a bag and each dropping a ball to their feet. “Tomlinson, come here.” Geoff called, beckoning one of his players over.

“Yes coach?” a boy wandered over, carrying the ball under one arm. He pushed his hair out of his eyes with his free hand, looking expectantly at his coach.

“We really need you on Sunday’s match. The team is top of the league at the moment, and this lot,” he nodded to the rest of the team, shuffling their feet after the balls, “don’t stand a chance without their captain.”

“Right, Geoff,” the boy said, holding his arm across his body to put another hand on the ball.

“Plus,” Geoff added in a slightly lower tone. “I’ve got a fella coming to have a look at _you_ , Louis, and he knows some people,”

Louis’ eyes lit up and a grin spread across his face. “So…you’re serious? You really think I could do it?”

“Of course I do, son. It’ll be easier when you’ve stopped faffing about with these A Levels, or whatever, but you’re bloody good. Better than good, actually. You really stand a chance, y’know, if you’re willing to put in the effort,”

Biting the inside of his cheek to stop his grin turning him into the Cheshire cat, Louis nodded enthusiastically. “I will, promise. I won’t screw this up, you got my word on it,”

“Damn right you won’t,” Geoff joked. “Now, go join the rest of this lot. Go on,” he slapped Louis’ shoulder as he scampered off to return the rest of his team.

 

Wiping the sweat from his face with a towel, Liam swung his gloves over his shoulder and headed back to the changing rooms. He wondered if his dad would’ve finished training now and could give him a lift back. Things would be so much easier next year when he could get his drivers’ licence himself. Grabbing his shirt from the back and pulling it over his head he walked across to his locker, retrieving his bag and dumping it on a bench, taking a seat next to it. He fished his mobile phone out the side pocket, unlocking it and checking a new message.

 _From: +447..Dad_  
Sent: Today 19:08  
-    -   -   -   -  
just dropping 1 of my playrs back pik u up in 20

He let out a deep sigh; of course, Dad’s priority was always football. Liam could never see the point in the sport; running around after a ball in the rain for an hour and a half. Five years ago, when he was eleven, his dad gave up on trying getting him into it. With all those pricks at his new secondary school giving him grief, Liam took a shine to the punch bag and the ring and since then had excelled at it.

However, he couldn’t help but feel like his dad was slightly disappointed that he didn’t share the same football passion. Liam had two older sisters and Geoff obviously felt like Liam was his chance to shine in the sport. That’s evidently not how it turned out, though.

Seeing as though he had twenty minutes, Liam hopped in the shower and was still waiting outside the leisure centre in the car park for nearly another twenty minutes for the grey Volkswagen to pull up.

“Sorry I took so long, mate.” Geoff apologised as Liam clambered into the passenger side. “I was just telling Mark some very important news.”

“Cool.” Liam said flatly, tilting his head back on the rest behind him.

“You going to be back in the boxing hall on Sunday?”

“Probably,”

“Well walk down to the Merilan Playing Fields once you’ve done and I can bring you home then,” his dad told him as they drove. “The Rangers are playing a big cup game. But anyway, hows the boxing going?”

“S’alright,” Liam shrugged. “It’s good actually. Andy, the guy I train with, thinks I should go more often to relive AS Level pressure and stuff. Y’know, give me a break from work,”

“That’s a good idea. You do seem a bit stressed lately…”

“I do _not,_ ” he replied indignantly.

Geoff laughed at his son, reaching across and ruffling his hair. “Sure, Liam. Sure,”

“Whatever.” Liam folded his arms, sinking a little lower into his seat whilst trying to hold back a small laugh as well.

“We don’t do much father-son stuff. Still not up for a kick-about in the park at any point?” Geoff asked optimistically.

“I never said I wasn’t up for it; I just said I’d be crap,”

“Awh well, it was worth a shot. What about getting a fishing boat one weekend?”

“Yeah,” Liam shrugged his shoulders again. “maybe,”

“Oh I get it. Too big to hang out with your ol’ man, now. It’s that how it is?” Geoff feigned being hurt.

Liam rolled his eyes at his dad’s awful acting and said jokingly “Yeah, sure, Dad. _That’s_ what it is.”

 

“See you Tuesday, Bro!” Andy called out over his shoulder.

“Later!” Liam replied, swinging his bag onto his back and taking a shortcut across the back of the car park to the Merilan Playing Fields. It was only like a five minute walk, and he’d forgotten his iPod anyway.

He really wished he was as good at football as his dad wanted him to be. Geoff was always going on about some star player of his, and how proud of the team he was. Liam’s hadn’t been to see a game in a while, he’d stopped helping out with refereeing in training and stuff so often.

One of his good friends, Niall, who he and his best mate, Zayn, went to primary school with, was on the team. He hadn’t seen him in a while. There was another boy on the team; he didn’t know what it was about Louis but he always felt really nervous around him. Maybe it was because he was the best in the county, maybe it was because he was the son Geoff wished Liam could be, or maybe it was his eyes that were the purest colour of blue.

 _Stop it, now._ Liam reprimanded himself, his thoughts managing to escalate so quickly. He tried so hard to hate Louis, more of a star in his father’s eyes than he could ever hope to be, but he just couldn’t. He hadn’t seen Louis in ages, he’d of forgotten what he looked like, even though they went to the same sixth-form, with Louis the year above him it's not like they had anything to do with each other anyway. Liam was the coach’s son, the dude who ref’d a match occasionally, nothing more. Anyway, he was supposed to be trying _not_ to like the reason his footballing incapability was highlighted to his dad.

Reaching the playing fields, Liam dumped his bag down and sat on the gate the other side of the pitch. His father was standing near a corner talking to a fellow in a navy coat. The other team, playing in green, were completely thrashing the Rangers by the looks of it. Liam recognised most of the boys; Stan was warily marking a lad, who was about six foot tall, from a distance. Niall was spending most of the time on the floor and relentlessly going in for sliding-tackle after sliding-tackle with little success at getting the ball.  Maz was standing in goal, pacing back and forth with an over-the-top swagger, mumbling some song to himself.

Liam then spotted him, Louis, walking over to an empty space on the pitch whilst running a hand through his hair. It was at that moment Niall decided to go in for another tackle and actually managed to take possession of the ball before tapping it over in Louis’ direction. As soon as Louis’ had the ball Geoff nudged the man in the navy coat, who looked up sharply and began watching intently.

There was no denying that Louis was talented, dodging oncoming attackers with the ball constantly at his feet, maintaining an impressive speed all the while. His damp fringe was pushed to one side and cheeks were flushed, mud across his knees and the material of his shirt clinging tight to his torso, whilst the black armband reading ‘captain’ was clenched around his bicep.

 _Bloody hell,_ Liam cursed himself for paying too much attention. He really was trying to just focus on the game and not on that player with the number ‘17’ and name ‘Tomlinson’ on the back of his shirt. Liam convinced himself that he stopped coming to help ref’ing, that he couldn’t stand the way his dad looked at him, wishing him to join in; and that was partially the reason, but there was something else.

The people on the side-lines erupted into cheers as, taking one step back in preparation, Louis smashed the ball into the top left corner of the goal. He barely had time to cry out a “get in there!” before his teammates were jumping all over him in celebration. Louis ducked out from underneath them, grinning widely, the crinkles popping up at the corner of his eyes whilst they all wandered back into position as the goalie prepped to kick the ball back out onto the pitch.

The whistle blew after ninety minutes with a draw of 2-2, and the Rangers eventually, thanks to Josh’s amazing shot, won on penalties. Louis was beaming and ran over to join the huddle of the rest of his team, jumping around. He really did look pretty when he smiled like that.

Liam noticed that Louis kept on glancing over to his dad and the man in the navy coat, Geoff standing back with his arms folded and pride smothered across his face. It was like a bit of a punch in the gut for Liam, though. Geoff had never looked at _him_ like that. God, he wished more than anything that the ability to hate Louis was within him, but it wasn’t.

Picking up his bag and walking around to the other side of the pitch to his father, Liam saw Niall wave. He wasn’t sure if he was waving it him but he raised his hand a little anyway.

“Liam, hey! Where the hell’ve you been, man?” Niall grinned, making his way over. “Haven’t seen you in a while, eh?”

“Um, no. I’ve been busy,” Liam replied, fiddling with the strap of his bag to avoid too much eye contact.

“You stopped helping out in training ‘n’ all,”

“Yeah…I, uh..”

“How’ve ya been anyway, mate?” Niall nudged him and Liam gave a small grin back.

“Alright, I guess. What about yourself?”

Letting out a chuckle, seemingly at nothing, Niall nodded. “I’ve been great! I got me drivers licence and me mam and dad bought me a sick new car. Well, not new, secondhand, but it’s awesome.”

Liam smiled; Niall was always so enthusiastic about everything. “That’s great,”

“Yeah, I’ll say…” Niall agreed, pausing to turn around to see who was coming up behind him.

Shit.

“Well if it isn’t Liam Payne!” Louis grinned, resting his arm on Niall’s shoulder when he approached. “Haven’t seen _you_ in a while.”

“Uh..yeah, I’ve been a little busy.” Liam replied, staring at each single blade of grass at his feet so he didn’t have to look up at Louis.

 “Ah, bullshit.” Louis laughed lightly, obviously disbelieving. “Can’t even make one training session in a year.”

“It’s only been a few months.” Liam pointed out.

“Whatever.” Without looking up, he could tell that Louis’ was rolling his eyes.

“What’s in the bag?” Niall tilted his head curiously.

“Boxing stuff.”

“Payne, you box?” Louis asked, surprise in his tone.

Liam could feel his cheeks begin to flush and wanted to turn and snap at Louis to shut up, but he couldn’t do that. “Sometimes.” He shrugged, instead.

Coming to his rescue, his father strode over, putting a hand on Louis’ shoulder and grinning. “Well played, son.” He said. _Son_. Another punch in the stomach for Liam. “Ready to go, Liam?”

“Uh, yeah.” Liam blinked, hoisting his bag up his shoulder.

“Here,” Geoff passed him a bunch of keys, nodding in the direction of the car park. “Go wait in the car, I’ll just be a minute,”

Liam obliged, managing a small wave to Niall and hurried off to the car. He got in and leant forward to bury his head in his arms on the dashboard, trying to stop the image of Louis running his hand through his hair from popping up every time he shut his eyes. _  
_


	2. Chapter 2

Having occupied their usual seat in the canteen, Liam was watching his best friend, Zayn, give a group of Year 8s a rather dirty look for being so loud. He turned back to Liam then quickly surveyed who was sitting on the tables around them. “Who do you like?”

Trying not to choke on air, Liam sat up a little straighter, putting is sandwich down slowly. “What?”

“C’mon, who d’you think is fit?”

“Uh…I don’t know.”

“Bollocks.” Zayn muttered, still pushing for an answer. “Right, give me your top three.”

“My top three?” Liam asked, being very careful that his eyes did not flicker for a split second to the table where Louis and his large crowd of his upper-sixth friends were seated, like he’d been doing all lunch break. “I…I really don’t know.”

Zayn sighed and elbowed him jokingly. “You’re useless, you are.”

“Hey, I-” Liam began to object but gave up on it, looking down. “Well, what about you?”

“What _about_ me?”

“Who’s your top three?”

“Uh…” Zayn brought his hand to his jaw as if he was in deep thought. “Well I mean, Becky’s quite fit..ain’t she?”

“Um, yeah?” Liam replied, only half tuned in with the conversation.

“D’you think I should ask her out, like, maybe? Or am I just like the lad at the back of her art class? I mean she is _really, really_ hot, Liam. I mean; damn.”

Laughing softly at his best mate, Liam nodded. “Of course, how could she say no to you?”

“Do I sense sarcasm, Payne?”

“What? No,” In all honesty, he hadn’t intended to be sarcastic. “I’m no good at that. Christ, Zayn, you should’ve known that about me by now.”

“You dimwit, ‘course I do,” Zayn said, tapping his hair to make sure it was still in place. “Say, what you up to this weekend? Wanna do something?”

“I would but, sorry, dad wants to go on some fishing trip… thinks we don’t do enough ‘father-son’ stuff,” Liam explained, the lack of enthusiasm obvious in his voice.

“Haha,” Zayn chuckled. “Well good luck with that, man,”

 

It was a warm day when Liam and his father loaded the car up with fishing gear and headed out to the lake. With the full heat of the sun on the back of their necks, they pushed the little fishing boat they’d rented off out onto the water and stood patiently, with the lines in hand, waiting for some sign of movement the other end.

“So, how long do we wait?” Liam asked after a while.

“Relax, Liam, it’s not been very long.” Geoff laughed at his son, adjusting his cap on his head. “So how’s school going?” he said after a long pause.

“S’alright.” Liam shrugged. “I could do without all of the essays.”

“Ah, I been there, mate. It’ll be over soon enough.”

“Yeah.” He replied, and once again the two fell into a slightly awkward silence. He blamed himself, for not having even tried to get anything in common with his father over the years. He always felt as if there was a gap between them, and here they were on a little old fishing boat his dad had got out specially, and Liam had let the conversation fall into an all-too-familiar awkward silence in under a minute and a half, which he was pretty sure was a new record.

A few minutes more of silence other than the sound of the water moving and Liam made a small tutting sound at his un-moving line. “I’m proud of you, Liam. Did I ever tell you? Me and your mum; we’re proud of you?” Geoff said, staring out across the river.

Well this was new. Liam felt a lump rise in his throat and stopped faffing about with the fishing rod, glancing across to his father. “But what have I done?”

“At school, you’re all A’s. You’re pretty bally good at the boxing of yours, even if it ain’t football. You turned out into a good, polite, respectful young man, an’ jeez how soppy am I being?” Geoff laughed it off again, but Liam couldn’t be sure if it was a trick of the sun or if it looked as if his father’s eyes had a little tear in them.

Okay, maybe he and his dad weren’t as close as they could’ve been, but he was still his dad and Liam loved him and would spend every waking hour of the day trying to please him. Liam said nothing, but stood there with a wide smile on his face, gazing at his father who reached out and ruffled his hair. “Yeah, you were always a good kid.”

Still smiling, Liam’s attention was brought back to fishing as he felt a small tug at the end of his line. “Woah…”

“You got something?” Geoff watched the line intently. “Go on bring it in, then.”

Complying, Liam began to reel in the line and held it up to gaze at a flopping fish, about fifteen centimetres long, just hanging there. He felt a little sorry for it, watching as it desperately flapped its tail about, trying to be free of the hook, until it eventually hung there still and lifeless. He was careful about placing it down in the bucket his dad had told him to, wiping his hands down his shirt on his return.

“Nice one.” Geoff grinned, giving him a congratulatory slap on the back as Liam attached more bait to the hook and tossed it back into the water.

It took them another forty-five minutes to catch just three more small-ish fish, but Liam wasn’t really fussed about what they caught. The sun was still blazing and he was pretty sure he was going to be burnt red-raw the next day, as they looked out at the other side of the lake. Two young men walked past on the side, hand-in-hand and Liam watched as one nuzzled into the other, wrapping an arm around each other’s waist in unison and holding one another close. It made the smallest trace of a smile appear on Liam’s lips, for a few seconds at least.

“Faggots.” Geoff tutted and muttered under his breath.

“ _Dad_!” Liam snapped back immediately, his chest tight for air. He knew his dad wasn’t particularly a believer in gay rights, but it cut like knives the way he was so blunt about his opinion.

“What?” his father acted as if what he had just said was no biggie at all. “It ain’t right.”

“What do you mean ‘it ain’t right’?” Liam retorted, trying desperately to sound normal. “You can’t help who you like.” His mind was buzzing and it was giving him a headache, _How could he say such a thing? What would he do if he found out Liam liked boys- a boy? Maybe it’s just a phase. Maybe. Louis is a phase that’s taking its bloody time to pass._

“Sure you can. God made it for a man and a woman.”

Liam almost wanted to lean over the edge of the boat and throw up. “Dad, you’re not even religious.” His voice was quavering.

“So? Still not normal. They just need someone to change their mind, get ‘em to like girls. Like how it’s supposed to be.”

Everything inside of Liam was becoming constricted, scrunching up like a screwed up ball of paper. “They can’t change their minds.” He said quietly, surprised at the certainty in his voice.

But his father had stopped listening.


	3. Chapter 3

Bringing the whistle to his lips, Liam blew in three short bursts.  “Get up off the floor Ash, you absolute numpty!” he yelled out. Ashton laughed and stopped clutching his knee to his chest as he rolled on the floor, sitting up eventually and then resuming his position in the five-a-side match they had going. He had missed ref’ing and being back to just help out made him feel a little better about things, even if Louis was still standing there looking annoyingly hot and his unattainability so obvious to Liam.

The players continued to only make a half-arsed effort to take possession of the ball, just pissing about, but the weather was so grey and miserable that Liam really couldn’t blame them. When Louis had the ball at his feet, nobody made any attempt to tackle him and he peeked up at them all, a look across his face just daring them to.

“Liiiiiaaaammm!” Michael was groaning. “Luke kicked me.” He complained like a small child telling tales on their sibling.

“I don’t care.” Liam smirked back, Michael was an idiot. “Get back to the game.”

“Don’t worry about it.”  Geoff had got off the phone now and walked up behind Liam. “It’s almost time over now, get going; the lot of ya.” He said and the players scampered off across the fields to the changing room blocks. “’cept you, Louis.” The coach added, Louis spinning round and making his way back over. Liam just stood a metre or so back from his dad, rubbing his arm awkwardly.

“What’s up?”

“I just got off the phone with the bloke who came to watch Sunday’s match. Let me know about a few open trials they’ve got going. There’s one on next Thursday, think you can make it?”

Louis shrugged and Liam could only help notice how little it made him look. “Probably. If I did have something it’d have to wait anyway. I can’t believe this is actually happening!” Louis grinned from ear to ear.

“Don’t get your hopes too high, lad.” Geoff chuckled. “Now bugger off too.”

“Right, coach.” Louis nodded, heading away.

Geoff was off on the phone again and Liam had set about collecting all the cones and stray footballs from around the field when Niall came bounding up to him. “Liam! I got to ask you something!”

“Sure, what’s the matter?” Liam looked up.

“Me parents are away next weekend so me and the lads are having a massive house party, loadsa people coming. Anyway, you should come, and Zayn too. It’s gonna be epic.”

“A party?”

“Yeah. Loadsa people from my school, football, people I know…” he listed off. “You up for it?”

“Um..sure.” Liam replied, hesitantly. He wasn’t really a ‘party person’.

“Great!” Niall exclaimed. I’ll see you there then. My house, eight p.m., Saturday. Oh, make sure you bring Zayn too, and booze!” he added before trotting away to the changing rooms again.

 

"So where’s Niall?” Zayn yelled over the top of the chatting and blaring music. “Haven’t seen him in a while.”

“Uh…” Liam looked around, his untouched drink in his hand. "I don't know, actually."

"Right. Oh hey, Becky-" Zayn spotted the girl he'd recently become obsessed with chatting to three of her friends from Niall's college and wandered over to her,  leaving Liam leaning against the kitchen counter by himself.

Liam cracked the tab on his beer can and it opened with a small fizz. He took a sip and scanned the room, looking at everyone slowly becoming more drunk with the sound of chattering filling the house and the pounding of the music from the speakers in the other room ricocheting off the walls. Liam guessed he just wasn't a party sort of person. He'd just been standing there for a few moments when the one person he most definitely did not want to see walked in. He quickly pulled out his phone and pretended to be busy texting to avoid conversation.

"Payne! Didn't know you were coming!"

Bollocks.

"Oh hey, Louis." Liam looked up into the grinning face of the boy he was trying to avoid. He had his hair styled up in a quiff and had just a light shadow of stubble on his chin, and, _Christ_ \- Liam thought- did he look fit. "Yeah I came."

"And you're drinking." Louis teased, knowing Liam normally stayed clear of the alcohol. "Need to get you dancing and hooking up- properly corrupt you to the party vibes! We could put a sticker saying 'reserved' on your crotch,"

Liam couldn't help but laugh. He hated the fact that Louis always could make him laugh. "Well, good luck with that."

"Ah, well I'll see you later mate. Gotta get back." Louis nodded and picked up two bottles of Smirnoff from the fridge, winking at Liam on his way back.

Liam gave a weak smile and as soon as he'd vanished into the other room, leaned forward with both hands on the counter top, with his eyes squeezed shut. Even when a little drunk Louis was as charming as annoyingly possible. _And you're clearly a little tipsy too_ \- Liam told himself, looking down into his empty can.

"You alright, mate?" Liam heard a voice and turned around to face a familiar-looking curly haired guy smiling at him.

"Yeah." Liam nodded quickly. "Yeah I'm fine."

"Hey- I know you!" the guy grinned, poking Liam's arm. "You're in year 12 at Greydale High, aren't you?"

"I-I am." Liam studied the guy's face, noting that he had cute little dimples.

"I'm Harry, year 13." he laughed at the perplexed look on Liam's face.

"Liam." Liam smiled, swapping his drink in his hands so he could shake Harry's outstretched hand.

"Not a party animal, eh?" Harry stood against the counter beside Liam. "Me neither." That didn't seem likely. 

"Mhmm." Liam nodded, taking a sip from his can only to realise there was nothing left. "Want another drink?" he asked Harry, who shook his head, so Liam retrieved just one can from the cooler outside the back door.

"So how'd you know Niall, then?" Harry asked upon his return.

 

Harry and Liam, as it turns out, had quite a bit in common. Liam was glad he found him to talk to, or else he’d just be standing by the kitchen counter by himself all night.

“Come on,” Harry sighed after a while, putting down his drink and taking Liam’s sleeve. “we can’t just mill about here, let’s go socialise. You can meet some of my friends; you might know them from school.”

Liam, reluctantly agreed, letting Harry drag him into the front room where it was a lot busier, the music was a lot louder and the air was a lot thicker with everyone’s body heat and the smell of alcohol. He spotted Zayn sitting almost across a group of people on a sofa, nodding sleepily. Liam held back a laugh; Zayn was always the drowsy sort of drunk.

In the last hour he’d learnt that Harry liked to touch people- not in that way- but he’d hugged Liam a few times and, really, they’d only just met- but Liam was a bit used to it from Zayn, anyway. Harry led him over to a corner where a group of vaguely familiar people from school were crowded and suddenly felt a little bit self-conscious around all these people he didn’t properly know.

“Hey everyone, this is Liam,” Harry wrapped an arm around Liam’s shoulders and patted the top of his arm.

A girl with dyed red hair looked him up and down then gave a short nod. “Hey.” she said, turning back to her drink and her friends. Nobody else really looked up, which wasn’t an unfamiliar reaction to Liam.

“He looked lonely so I brought him over here.” Harry grinned, seemingly unaware of everybody’s lack of interest in Liam’s presence. “C’mon,” Harry said to Liam, leading him over to a small space on the sofa, where Liam sat squashed between Harry and a lad he recognised from the rugby team. He really wished he had a drink to down right now, but he was too squished to get up and go and get one.

Niall came bounding over, flailing his arms by his sides to the beat of the current song. “Haaaarrryyyyy!” he beamed, stopping in front of the sofa just before he fell on top of everyone. “You made it in the end, eh?”

“Alright, mate. Yeah, I wouldn’t miss one of _your_ parties and the opportunity to get absolutely plastered now, would I?” Harry chuckled, squeezing further up the sofa in an attempt to give Niall a place to sit.

“Damn right, come on. I got people you need to meet. Oh my god, it feels like I haven’t seen you in twelve million thousand dinoyears.” Niall grabbed Harry’s arm and pulled him to his feet, where Harry swayed drunkenly for a bit.

“Dinoyears aren’t a thing, Niall.” He said seriously, then turned to Liam. “I’ll see you later, yeah.”

Liam gave a small nod. “Yeah, I was going to go outside and get some air, anyway.”

 

Liam leant his head back against the brick wall outside, shutting his eyes against the cool air hitting his face. It was a lot easier to breathe out here. He probably shouldn’t have left Zayn to fall asleep in a corner on his own, but he’d be alright.

There were a few people out in the garden, but it was a lot easier to hear himself think than inside. Out here, people were mainly just lighting up a cigarette, talking in slurred words down a phone or one couple making out against a wall. A boy-girl couple. 

Liam looked down at his shoelaces, letting out a long breath. Maybe he could train himself to like girls. Even as the words sounded through his head, he knew it was ridiculous. He’d kissed girls before- and it was alright, but he’d never actually _fancied_ a girl. Never got the butterflies in his belly with a girl, or the little electric shock when they brushed hands. And when he kissed them it wasn’t the sort of _I-want-to-do-that-again_ feeling and more of an _‘oh..’_ feeling.

Deciding that he’d probably best go find Zayn now, he turned to make his way towards the back door but as he passed the couple he felt a lurch in his stomach that made him want to double over in pain. The boy was Louis- quite happily snogging the face off a pretty blonde girl. Liam probably got whiplash from how swiftly he snapped his head away, stumbling quickly up the step and back inside to the kitchen.

His face was burning and goosebumps covered his skin. What was he thinking? Of course Louis was straight. Why would he ever think otherwise, let alone imagine that he could have a chance with him? God, he wanted to hate Louis, but for what? For being talented at football? For having the most amazing sense of humour? For being the sweetest person ever? For liking girls?

“Zayn. Zayn, get up,” Liam found Zayn curled up asleep in the corner of an armchair, mouth slightly parted.

“Huh?” Zayn opened his eyes slowly. “Aw shit, did I fall asleep again? Did anyone draw on me? What time is it?”

“It’s almost two am, c’mon, let’s get you home.”  Liam hoisted his best friend up, trying to stand him still.

“Woah..not so quick or I’m gunna throw up.” Zayn pressed a hand to his stomach, gripping tightly to Liam’s arm.

Liam nodded, feeling rather nauseous himself. But he decided focusing on getting Zayn home safely would help trying his very best to forget about that goddamn football player and his stupid smirk and blue eyes and how he winked at him earlier and-

“Liammm…” Zayn buried his head into Liam’s shoulder.

“Mmm?”

“I don’t want to go home, the party isn’t over.”

Liam shook his head, half walking- half dragging Zayn to the door. He’d let Zayn stay round his tonight. Zayn’s parents wouldn’t be too impressed at the state he arrived home in and he was bound to need someone sympathetic to his hangover. They could face the consequences that the morning brings together.


	4. Chapter 4

 

By Monday morning at school Zayn still hadn’t fully recovered. He was sitting next to Liam at the back of History class, his head buried in his arms on the desk- taking up most of the space. The lunch bell rang out and Liam nudged his best friend to get up, sliding back in his chair and picking up his folder.

“Zayn. Up.” He kicked Zayn’s chair, who eventually lifted his head and forced himself to his feet.

“Canteen?” Zayn mumbled, as they headed down the corridor and Liam gave a small nod. However when they arrived in the canteen they saw a bunch of Year 10s sitting in their usual seat. Damn teacher letting them out late; now there were hardly any spaces left.

“Hey! Liam!”

Liam spun his head around to see the curly haired, dimpled guy from Niall’s party beckoning him over to a table where he, and a few others Liam recognised from the party, was sitting having a rather rowdy conversation. He waved at Harry, smiling back and nodded over to him with Zayn, who accompanied him to go and see what Harry wanted.

“Hi Harry, what’s up?”

“You two look like right wollies just standing there all lost.” Harry said playfully. “Come. Sit down.” He shuffled up the bench so there was room for Liam and Zayn to slide in. Liam couldn’t help but feel like they were intruding on the Year 13s' unofficial lunch table, but Harry, nor any of the others, seemed to care all that much.

“This is Zayn,” Liam introduced his still half-asleep friend, just in case they hadn’t met at the party. Zayn raised his hand in a small wave and went back to curling up with his forehead on the table.

“Where’s Lou?” asked a brown-haired lad with earrings, without looking up from his phone.

“Uhm,” Harry paused. “I don’t know actually, Josh.”

“Hey guys,” said a voice and Liam looked up.

_Of course.  
_

Louis slumped down in a space next to Josh, tired-looking and surprisingly downbeat- not like his usual jokey self. He looked up and glanced at Liam for a split second, giving a small nod. Liam’s stomach felt about five times heavier in that moment, but Louis was looking down again almost immediately.

“Louis?” Harry’s voice was soft as he reached his arm across the table, hand stopping millimetres away from the tip of Louis’ fingers. “You alright, mate?”

Louis responded with a shrug, looking so little and timid in a way that was entirely abnormal to Liam. “I just- ” he began, cutting himself off, keeping his eyes on his hands on the table. “Me and Hannah sorta.. well, we did. We broke up.”

An uncomfortable silence settled over the table and Harry stretched out his fingers to cup Louis’ tiny hand in his own large one. “Oh Lou...” he tried to give a weak smile. “It’s alright, there’s plenty o’ chicks out there. ‘Specially for a lad like yourself.”

Louis attempted a smile back. “I’m okay about it. We weren’t really the same recently. It’s just we’d been together nearly five months… you know… it’s weird to think that it’s all –” he stopped, sighing lightly and Harry squeezed his hand. “-but, really, I’m fine.”

Liam didn’t know all that much about Louis’ personal life but he was pretty sure that people who were ‘fine’ didn’t quite have the same frail expression that Louis had right then. Liam could’ve been selfish. He could’ve seen this as an ‘opportunity’, now that Louis was single. But he wasn’t. He’d never been able to think things like that.

It was like just with Louis sitting there looking down forlornly; he felt a strange pang inside of him. He wanted to hug him and make it all better, give him a reason to turn the corners of his lips up. He’d hug him and never want to let him go, memorise every anxious line on his face and _– Stop it Liam, listen to yourself_ – he scolded him in his head, his thoughts had a habit of getting out of hand rapidly when it came to Louis. But he couldn’t help it; he wanted to be the reason that he looked up with crinkly eyes and a crooked smile, hear his airy laughter fill a room and know it was because of Liam. He just wanted Louis to stop looking so- so down and fragile.

 

By Thursday that week it was impossible to tell whether Louis was just putting on a happy face or was genuinely smiling again- his bouncy old self was back and hovering around the sports hall foyer, looking at this week’s team sheet. Liam tried to avoid eye-contact as he shuffled past on his way out of the changing room, doing his tie up in a lose knot on his chest.

“Hey Li,” Louis turned around, catching up with Liam who had clearly failed at going unnoticed by Louis.

“Hey,”

“I’m coming back to yours tonight, yeah?”

Liam nearly tripped over his feet. _Wait, what?_ He stopped in his tracks and turned to face Louis, eyebrows furrowed, puzzled. “Huh?”

“Did your dad not tell you?” Liam blinked. “He wanted to talk about the open trials coming up.” Louis explained, carrying on walking.

“Oh- oh right,”

“Yeah, so I’ll wait for you outside the gate after school so we can walk back, yeah? I don’t really fancy getting lost.”

It took Liam a few moments to remember how his voice box worked, before he smiled and nodded “Yeah, alright.”

Louis smiled back and Liam was definitely _not_ thinking about his dumb (cute-as-hell) eye-crinkles. “Cool, see you later Liam,”

 

Sure enough- Louis was leaning against the gate at the end of the school day, bag slung over his shoulder and the top two buttons of his shirt undone. Liam was hoping that he’d have forgotten and he wouldn’t run the risk of doing something embarrassing and having to go into hiding in France. Louis grinned and waved and Liam almost walked into a year 7 running past him; so far he wasn’t doing a very good job at not humiliating himself.

Louis, like Harry, was very much a touchy-feely person. They fell in step, walking side by side away from the school and Louis linked his arm into Liam’s, waffling on about Torres’ move to Chelsea or something. Liam wasn’t really paying that much attention to anything besides the fact that the bare skins of their arms were touching and how his face was feeling twelve times hotter.

“I mean, they paid a fortune for him, yet he hasn’t played one fucking match all season,” Louis ranted, unlinking their arms suddenly. “Can we just pop into the corner shop? I’m dying for a drink or something,”

The bell above the door chimed as they entered and Louis headed straight for the refrigerated isle. Liam stood back against the newspaper stand and exhaled, rubbing his sweaty palms on his school trousers. Today could only go horribly wrong.

He looked up to the security mirrors, hanging from the top corner and was relieved to see his cheeks weren’t _too_ red. He ran his fingers through his hair and tried to flatten it out before he caught sight of Louis’ reflection heading to the counter to pay. Louis returned to Liam and re-connected their arms. He didn’t notice when the cashier shot the pair of them a slightly bewildered expression as they left and carried on home.

“Mum! We’re back!” Liam called out, dumping his bag down by the stairs as Louis did the same.

Right; now his dad would take Louis off his hands. His nipple was starting to feel kind of sore from where Louis kept tweaking it if he thought Liam wasn’t paying attention. Though to be fair, most of the time Liam’s mind _was_ elsewhere. “Where’s dad?”

“He’s not in from work yet, Honey.” Liam’s mother replied, peeking her head out from the kitchen. “Hello Louis, dear.”

“Hi Mrs. Payne!” Louis smiled brightly.

“Liam, why don’t you go find something to keep Louis and yourself busy until dinner is ready,”

There were certainly plenty of things that they could do to keep themselves busy until them, about four of which he wanted to say in front of his mother. “Uhm… did you wanna play the PS3 or something?” Liam asked, nervously rubbing the back of his neck.

“Sounds great!” said Louis, following Liam upstairs. He pushed open his bedroom door, kicking at some clothes he’d left lying on the floor. He wished that it had crossed his mind to tidy up; but then again Louis didn’t strike him as the sort of person who minded mess.

“Uh, I’ve got COD?” Liam bent down to browse through his games on the shelf below the telly.

“Which one?”

“Modern Warfare 2.”

“Good, I hate Black Ops.” Louis said and Liam laughed, kicking back to sit next to Louis on his bed. He tried not to notice how close they were sitting next to each other and how Louis was shuffled up so their shoulders were knocking- he really did try.

 

“Oh my god. Die you wanker!” Louis cussed the game, “What? Fuck, no!” he dropped the controller into his lap as his player’s half of the screen faded to black, having died.

“You’re not very good at this, are you?” Liam asked, eyes still fixed on the game and not how Louis had slightly tangled their legs, stretched out on his bed.

“Shut up.” Louis snapped back without heat. “I’d whoop your arse at Fifa, any day, mate.”

Liam chuckled, “No way.”

“Right.” Louis sat up a bit straighter. “Die and then we’ll play and I will smash you.”

“You’ll be waiting a while. I’m better at not dying than you, Louis.”

“Oh really?” Louis asked with a smirk and a raised eyebrow. Liam bit the inside of his cheek because, damn, that smirk was attractive on his face. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah,” Liam had been staring at Louis for too long before he remembered that staring was creepy and he was still playing.

Louis poked his side and Liam squirmed, which only made Louis’ smirk grow wider. “Are you sure you’re sure?” he teased and poked him again. Liam lifted the controller higher, trying not to die just to prove Louis wrong. “C’mon Li,” he said, tickling at Liam’s chest making him fidget about even more.

“Piss off,” Liam said, voice broken through his laughter, trying to escape Louis’ hands whilst remain in the game.

“Liaamm,” Louis whined, practically sitting on Liam’s lap now. His hands scuttled across Liam’s stomach and Liam was pretty sure his heart was beating so far out of his chest it would be visible beneath his school shirt.

“Lou- get, get off,” He laughed, trying to see past Louis sitting on top of him, to the screen, “Louis- aw shit!” Liam let go of the controller as ‘GAME OVER’ popped up on the telly.

“Told ya you were shite!” Louis grinned victoriously, still sitting across him.

Liam was breathing heavily; partly because Louis had tickled him to death and partly because he had the fittest player on the team practically straddling him on his bed- which he was _definitely not_ feeling himself go the tiniest bit hard over.

Louis climbed off him and threw his head back laughing; “Now it’s my time to win.” He padded across the room and ran his finger along the spines of the game cases, pulling out Fifa ’11 and tossing it over to Liam to put in the PlayStation.

“I may not be good at real-life footy but I’m beast at it on here,” Liam said.

“I’d like to see you try, Payne.” Louis scooted over so he was basically half-sitting on Liam again and tangled their legs, setting up the game.

He felt a sort of pride swelling in him as he discovered he was almost as good as Louis at the game. Even more so when his team scored the first goal- earning him a nipple-pinch from Louis.

“Don’t make me fucking tickle you again,” Louis threatened, tilting his head up to look at Liam with a stern expression- which Liam was trying not to find absolutely adorable- but his eyes just looked so cheeky and his lips just looked so pink and kissable and-

“BOYS! Time for dinner,” Liam’s mother hollered from downstairs.

Louis climbed across Liam and got up, “Great, I’m starving.” He said, scampering away.

Liam let out a shaky breath, leaning back against the wall for a moment. _Jeez Liam, get a_ _grip-_ he mentally told himself. _Right now, do it now,_ he said. _Then you can’t wimp out._

Pulling out his phone from his pocket, Liam sighed again and scrolled down to the number, tapping away at the keys:

 _To: +447..Zayn_  
Sent: Today 17:56  
-    -   -   -   -  
zaayynnie, got sumthing megaaa important to tell u. its urgenttt ! dont let me forget to tell u its rly importaannt !!!


	5. Chapter 5

"Liam?" Zayn asked when he entered the sixth-form common room the next morning. "I got your text, what's up?"

  
Liam fiddled with the zipper on his jacket, his heart beating wildly as he scanned the room before looking up at Zayn and mumbling quietly. "Oh, I- no, it's not important." _Don't wimp ou.. too late_.

"Bollocks," Zayn said. "Liam..."

Sitting on a table only a few metres away was Harry and a group of other Year 13s. Louis would be joining them soon. "Can we just-" Liam took a deep breath. "-just not here, okay?"

Zayn followed Liam out into the courtyard where they sat down on the bottom step of the stone stairs. Of course he could trust Zayn- they'd been best friends since primary school, they told each other everything.

"Liam?" Zayn put his hand on Liam's knee and squeezed it reassuringly.

"Zayn, I think that I... I-" he took a moment to steady his breathing and Zayn sat quietly, listening to him clearly. "that...I like- I like boys." his words tripped over his tongue, coming out all rushed and broken. Zayn had heard him.

He did not remove his hand from Liam's knee, but stayed silent for a second. "Li," he said, finally. "Are you pulling one on me? Don’t…” he stopped, realising how serious Liam was. “How long?”

Liam could feel the rise in his chest, the tears threatening his eyes. "I- always, I think...think that I've known for years. Since I was about thirteen,"

His best mate looked up at him, then smiled widely and hugged his arm tight. "I'm proud of you."

Liam creased his eyebrows, confused. "But... but why?"

“It must’ve took balls to come out. Who else have you told?”

“Only you,” Liam said quietly. “So- so you don’t hate me?”

Zayn gave a little chuckle, still clinging to him arm. “Yeah, Liam, sure. Like it’s possible to hate you, you’re my best friend!”

Liam smiled, pulling Zayn into a proper hug. “You’re mine too. I love you, Zayn.”

“Love you too, man.” Zayn mumbled into his shoulder. A beat. “Liam, are you crying?”

Liam sniffed and pulled back, shaking his head. “You won’t tell anyone? Will you?”

“About you crying or-”

“I am _not_ crying.” Liam objected. “And neither…”

“I’m joking, mate,” Zayn tittered. “anyway, you never answered my question.”

“What question?”

“Who do you think is fit? You never did tell me your top three,”

“I…” Liam began. “Well, I mean…”

“If you put that Harry bloke above me; I’m disowning you. He’s a nice lad n’ all, but I have to come first.” Zayn pinched Liam’s arm and Liam laughed.

“Don’t worry. You’re always my first, Zayn,”

“Damn right.” Zayn nodded. “Now, you were saying-”

“Well, I mean, uh… well, Louis is quite nice.”

“ _Quite nice?_ ” Zayn repeated. “Louis? As in football- Year 13- Harry’s friend Louis?”

Liam’s face had flushed a deep red colour. “Uh… yeah, him,”

“Aww Liam,” Zayn poked his cheek and smirked.

“Go away,” Liam grinned, the heavy feeling in his chest slowly becoming lighter. He really did love Zayn. In reality; he couldn’t have asked for a better friend.

“So… Louis Tomlinson, eh?” his best mate was still doing that stupid smirk. He was going to enjoy teasing Liam about this. Liam didn’t mind.

“Talking about me behind my back, lads?”

_Oh for fucks sake._

Liam always heard Louis before he saw him, never giving him enough time to sort his face out into the expression of a normal person. “Louis?” he turned around.

Louis laughed lightly, “yes.”

“I was… I was just telling Zayn how I beat your arse at Fifa.” He lied.

Zayn was watching between the two of them, he nodded, catching on to what Liam was saying. “Yeah, it’s not true is it? Liam’s crap at video games.”

“I let him win,” Louis grinned, his dumb pretty little grin.

“You did _not_!” Liam’s cheeks still felt hot. At least Louis hadn’t heard what they were _really_ discussing. “He didn’t, he’s even shittier than me.” Liam turned to Zayn, who looked at him amusedly.

“Don’t drag me into this,” he sat back on the step.

“I’m offended, Payne,” Louis put a hand to his chest in mock upset. “anyway, see you boys later, I better head to Form.”

“Bye Louis,” Liam said as Louis disappeared back inside through the double doors.

Liam could feel Zayn’s eyes on his face and blushed again.

“ _Oooh, bye Louis!_ ” Zayn teased, fluttering his eyelashes.

Liam couldn’t help but laugh and playfully shove him over. “Bugger off.”

 

 

That Sunday, Liam made his way to the playing fields after boxing training. The boys were playing a team at the top of their league, who had come up all the way from London. His dad had been stressing about it all week.

  
There was three minutes left of the match when he arrived, he dropped his bag to the ground and hopped up, so he was sitting on the gate, to watch the last part of the game. It was clear the opposing team were too good; but he had to give his dad's team credit for staying off the floor long enough to at least try.

  
The other team's midfielder took possession of the ball and kept it by his feet as he sprinted down the other end. Louis went in for a tackle and just as the tip of his shoe touched the ball, the midfielder roughly shoved him back; Louis almost slipping on the slightly damp grass.

He held his arms out in annoyance and turned to the referee- who ignored anything that had happened. Letting out a frustrated huff, he mumbled something along the lines of 'biased prick' under his breath. Liam couldn't help but snicker; he looked so cute when he was cross- like a stubborn little four year old with his arms folded and bottom lip out.

A cheer flew up from the sidelines as the same midfielder launched the ball straight into the back of the net, just grazing past Maz's head by centimetres.

"How the hell could you let that in?" Calum cried from the other end of the pitch.

"And.." the referee called, the shrill of the whistle signalling the end of the game.

The players dispersed to the changing room blocks after shaking hands and rather reluctant congratulatory pats on the back to the away team.

"Liam, you just made it," Geoff said.

"Yeah, I uh...I wanted to see how the boys were getting on." Liam replied.

"Well, I can't say this was their finest moment, to be honest." his dad said a little wearily.

Liam sighed. It was weird how it was always so awkwardly formal with his father these days. "They tried,"

"Yeah," Geoff stopped looking across the other side of the pitch and directly at his son. "there's always a space on the team if you ever wanted to re-join..."

"Dad," they'd had this conversation a million times before. "Dad, I'm useless at football and you know it,"

"You could give it another try, I mean-"

"No, I'm alright thanks." Liam said, readjusting the strap on his boxing bag as he did.

The boys were starting to re-emerge from the changing rooms and across the field. Niall gave a cheerful wave as he passed by, "See ya coach, see ya Liam!"

"Later Niall,"

"Well played!" Geoff called. "Liam, would you go tell Louis to hurry up. He's supposed to be coming back to ours."

 _Again?_ Liam thought. He wasn't sure how much more nipple tweaking and straddling he would be able to handle. "He is, what? Oh, yeah, I uh..I'll go see." he said, walking over to the changing room blocks.

"Lou? You ready yet?" Liam called from outside the door. No reply. "Louis! Hurry up."

He knocked on the door before pushing it open slowly. No-one was there, but he heard the running of water from the shower cubicles behind the wall. Louis was singing softly, sweet voice mixing with the sound of the water pitter-pattering as it hit the shower floor.

_“Hey there Delilah, what's it like in New York City,”_

Liam leaned against the door frame, putting his head on his arm and listening for a moment longer than he should have. Louis had a pretty voice.

_“I'm a thousand miles away but, girl, tonight you look so pretty, yes you-”  
_

"Lou-Louis? You nearly done?" Liam called out and Louis' singing ceased.

"Liam? Yeah, uh, I'll be five minutes! Hold up!" the sound of running water stopped and Liam replied "Alright," heading back out to where his dad was waiting in the car park, a funny feeling settling in the pit of his stomach.

"Sorry," Louis wandered over a few moments later, pink cheeks and damp scruffy hair, pulling his top down and covering the strip of tan skin that had been visible on his waistline.

"No problem," Geoff said as he unlocked the car.

The bag full of balls, bibs and cones was taking up the passenger seat and the one behind it, so Louis scooted up next to Liam in the back seat. His skin was still warm from the shower and he did look so tiny next to Liam all cramped in the back of the car.

"Ugh, Li, help me with the seat belt," Louis said, fiddling with the buckle.

"Here," Liam leaned across his small frame, clipping it in next to Louis' hip, and sat back as quickly as possible so Louis couldn't feel his heart beating. "Nice singing by the way," Liam commented.

"You sing, Tomlinson?" Geoff asked, glancing back in the rear view mirror.

"I...oh, I was practicing my X-Factor audition, obviously." Louis said sarcastically, stifling a little laugh as he met Liam's gaze for a split second, turning his face to check the seat belt once again.

And Liam couldn't be entirely sure, but perhaps he noticed Louis' cheeks going an even deeper shade of pink at that.

 


	6. Chapter 6

It still made Liam jolt a little when he saw Louis waiting by the gates for him after school, but he hoped Louis still hadn't noticed. As it turns out, Louis coming back to his house and walking home together became a regular thing. And Liam was quite right in saying that, though not at _his_ standards, Louis was improving at not dying on Call Of Duty. Louis' need to keep touching all the time didn't make Liam feel nearly as giddy as two weeks beforehand, and he was almost getting used to Louis' presence. 

Almost.

"Jeez Liam, what's with your face?" Andy stopped jabbing at the pads Liam had on his hands and sighed.

"What do you mean 'what's with my face'?" Liam frowned.

"You just look very concentrated and distant."

"Do I? Oh," Liam lowered the pads and took a sip from his water bottle on the side.

"Ugh, whatever, let's take a break." Andy said, dropping his gloves over the side of the rope and climbing out of the ring.

Liam sat back against the ropes and withdrew his phone from his pocket.

 _From: +447...Louis_  
Sent: Today 19:05  
\-    -   -   -   -  
when you finish boxing can u drop by my mums and pick up my stuff for me  ? cheers  !!  
  
Great, Louis was back at his for another evening. At least this time he was pre-warned. Liam was pretty sure he'd have to stop pretending to himself that he didn't enjoy Louis' company soon enough. He just couldn't help giggling at every little thing Louis did, or watching the way his lips thinned when he was concentrating on a game, or the way his eyes screwed shut when he laughed at Liam's bewildered reaction to almost every time Louis touched him.

"Right," Andy said, tossing his water bottle and phone to the side, "Your turn now."

 

Louis was there when Liam got back, emerging from the kitchen with a grin plastered on his face. "Hey, Liam," he said.

Liam tossed Louis' bag that he'd collected across the hall and Louis caught it, hugging it to his chest. "Hey," Liam replied.

"Go play the PS3 or whatever you guys normally do," Geoff said from inside the other room. "I just need to phone Mark about this, see if he can get Louis up to the next trials."

Liam watched as Louis bounced excitedly on his toes. "So you're, like, really serious about this football, huh?"

"Well, yeah," Louis' smile grew, reaching the corners of his eyes which only made Liam's insides melt a tiny bit.

"Shh, don't tell anyone," Geoff appeared, one arm on the doorframe. "but Doncaster definitely like the looks of 'im."

Louis' face went a very pretty pink colour, and, Liam thought, Doncaster weren't the only ones who liked the look of Louis.

"When I'm making millions and being interviewed on Sky Sports you can say 'hey, I know that lad, he always beat me at Fifa'."

"Only because you're a bloody cheat!" Liam accused jokingly.

"Keep telling yourself that, mate,"

"Right." he crossed his arms. "Come on then, I'll beat you this time,"

Louis laughed lightly, skipping up the stairs already past Liam. "You're on."

They spent hours, must've been, slouched on Liam's bed with Louis still only just beating him. Liam didn't even notice how dark it was outside until he looked up past Louis' smiling face and out the window. He was pretty worn out from the boxing and when he blinked at the screen his eyes took longer to re-open.

Louis had one leg swung over so it was between Liam's and the side of his face resting on Liam's shoulder. It was only when the full-time for this match was up that he noticed Louis' breathing had slowed, and he was draped over Liam with his eyes shut peacefully and mouth slightly parted- which, even half-asleep, made Liam's stomach twist into knots he couldn't untangle before his head was resting on the top of Louis' fluffy hair and he slipped into semi-consciousness too.

However, when he awoke the next morning he was alone in his room, the space on the duvet next to him slightly creased where Louis had been. Where Louis had been leaning against him Liam's side felt a bit cold, and his neck felt stiff from where he'd fell asleep with his back against the wall. But most of all he felt a strange mix of butterflies from having had Louis sleep right beside him, and a weird hollowness that he wasn't there when he woke up.

 

 

Liam sat in the common room, with Zayn's feet in his lap as he lay down on the couch. He rested his text book on Zayn's leg, highlighting his notes when the buzz of his friend's phone sounded again. Zayn shifted slightly and smiled at the screen, tapping away his reply.

"So you and Becky are, like, an item now?" Liam asked.

"I dunno," Zayn shrugged, not looking up from his phone.

"Yeah, but you're seeing her, right?" 

"Call it that." Zayn said.

"You going to ask her to be your girlfriend?" Liam poked his foot teasingly.

"Well, I dunno, you gonna ask Louis to be yours?" Zayn glanced up with a smirk.

"Piss off." Liam said. "I thought we said that we weren't going to talk about it in public."

"We're not in public. We're in school."

"Same thing." Liam said and Zayn sighed, sitting up straight and swinging his legs off Liam's lap. "I'm going outside for a smoke for a second,"

"Zayn. You shouldn't-"

"Yeah, yeah, I know, whatever," Zayn waved his hand behind him, rummaging in his bag for a pack of cigarettes. "I'll just be a minute."

Liam was alone, for a few moments at least. He sat back and tucked his textbook away into his bag, looking up to see Harry with his arm around Louis, rubbing his friend’s shoulder who looked slightly more worn out than he’d done in a while. Louis spotted Liam and smiled tiredly, “Sorry I didn’t wake you, I uh..I took my sisters to school.” He said. Harry raised an eyebrow.

“You left me all cold,” Liam smiled back and Louis laughed lightly, eyes lightening a little.

“Aw, sorry Liam,” Louis blinked innocently and Harry patted his arm again. “Anyway, I have to- I got to go see Mr. Gilborn…sort out my coursework.” He said and escaped Harry’s hold, “Shall I- I’ll wait for you after school, yeah?”

“Yeah, cool,” Liam nodded; trying to sound like Louis waiting almost every other day wasn’t a big deal for him. He was so focused on watching the way Louis walked out, vanishing through a second door, that he didn’t notice Harry plopping down next to him. “Alright Haz?”

“Huh? Yeah, fine, I’m good.” Harry replied, resting his arms along the back of the couch. “You and Louis having slumber parties now, then?” Harry teased, tickling at the side of Liam’s face with his forefinger.

“Slumber parties?” Liam parroted. “We were, like, we were just playing the PlayStation all night.”

Harry shook his head, curls bouncing in front of his face. “I can’t believe you didn’t invite me. Next time I want to come. It’ll be great. We can plait each other’s hair, do our nails, eat ice cream, tell ghost stories and talk about boys!”

Harry was only bantering, Liam knew that. But that last statement still made his gut tighten up a little bit. “Yeah, sorry, mate. You can come next time but you have to bring a princess sleeping bag too.”

“Oooh, I’ll get my sleeping beauty one!” Harry played along, pulling Liam in with a headlock and planting a wet kiss the side of his forehead. Liam’s laughter couldn’t be contained as he attempted to break free from Harry’s hold, which eventually took a nipple pinch to do. “Ouch!” Harry whined. “You’ve definitely been spending too much time with Louis.”

“I know,” Liam admitted a little shyly. “Is he okay? I mean, he just seemed a bit, you know, off a minute ago.”

“Oh,” Harry said. He was quiet for a while as if he was selecting his words carefully. “He’ll be fine, I think he’s a little bit over-tired,” He poked Liam in the ribs and Liam’s smile cracked again, fidgeting away from Harry. “and I think we know who’s to blame for that.”

 

 

Louis was waiting for Liam and they walked back together, as always, and he was still the same goofy idiot he was the day before- except every now and then he seemed slightly more distracted, more pauses embedded within his rants, but maybe he was just tired.

Liam craned his neck to the sky as a tiny splash of water landed on his arm, and sighed. “Great,”

“It’s going to start pissing down in a minute,” Louis said, pulling his blazer a little higher on his shoulders.

“It’s only a little, hopefully,” Liam said, another drop landing.

“Shit. Let’s take a shortcut,” Louis tugged on Liam’s arm who really couldn’t say ‘no’ to anything that boy suggested.

“Alright.”

They cut around the alley in between the Newsagents and the Off Licence, Louis falling behind Liam and allowing him to lead the way. _Drop…drop…_ as Liam pushed through a wire gate, holding it open with his foot for Louis, that lead into a main road behind Liam’s street.

The rain drops that fell were larger now, dripping down from the skies faster, and Liam jumped as Louis clung onto his sleeve, running across the road and dragging him behind him, just before a car whipped past. “Come on, Li.” He called, dropping Liam’s arm once they’d crossed. “I don’t want to get my hair messed up.”

Liam laughed and Louis shot him a reserved grin, trailing beside Liam as they turned the corner and he fiddled about with the house key, kicking the door open and dumping their bags by the stairs. No-one else was in.

“Dammit.” Louis shook his hair but it really made no difference.

Chuckling at him, Liam slipped away to the airing cupboard, tossing a towel to Louis upon his return. “It ain’t that bad.”

Louis ruffled his hair with the towel, his face smiling brilliantly when it was uncovered. He followed Liam into the living room and they fell down into the couch, Liam picking up the remote and flipping through the channels on the telly.

“What should we watch?”

“I dunno,” Louis shrugged. “What’s on?”

“CSI? Only Fools and Horses? Top Gear? Oh wait… I’ve got An Idiot Abroad recorded.”

“I love that! Karl is an actual legend,” he said and shifted so he was comfy whilst Liam pressed play.

So they watched TV, shuffled up next to each other with their school uniforms still soggy from the showers outside. Louis would laugh hilariously and bury his face into Liam’s shoulder to muffle it- and Liam really _wasn’t_ thinking of how his breath was hot on his damp skin, and he could feel Louis’ laughter vibrate in his chest. And Liam would swing his legs over Louis’ when he laughed, covering his face with his hand- and he laughed a lot, because the programme was funny, and Louis’ running commentary on it kept him entertained and also Louis had a really contagious and pretty-sounding laugh.

“Oh look,” Louis said ironically, nodding outside the window. “Now it decides to stop raining.”

“Jesus, Louis, you should be sent to all these countries like Karl with the amount of complaining you do.” Liam joked.

“I don’t complain!” Louis objected, nudging Liam’s foot with his. “I never.”

Liam chuckled, “sure, Louis, sure.”

Louis turned so he was sitting with his knees beneath him on the couch, a wicked grin across his face. “You take that back, Payne. I don’t appreciate sarcasm.”

Liam shook his head and bit his lip, because Louis’ authoritative voice was just- well. “Nope.”

“Liam.” Louis smirked, pushing his shoulders back. “You little shit.” He tickled at his sides, and Louis had learnt by now how ticklish Liam was.

“No, get off Lou-” Liam tried to squirm away, but he was laughing too much. His chest was heavy and he was suddenly very aware of his own being- his heart hammering and throat going tight for air for a few seconds. “Louis!” he said, breathless.

Louis just smirked and tried to push Liam down again, but Liam hooked his leg around the back of Louis’ knee, and Louis was so tiny and light that he managed to flip them over. “Don’t think so.”

Louis struggled to shove Liam back up, his eyes electric and blue, smile wide and bright. “Fuck off,” Louis said, pinching at Liam’s nipple, using Liam’s reaction time in order to roll them over a little- but Liam pushed him back. And Louis’ face was flushed; his shirt still damp and clinging to his chest and his hair untamed and falling into bright blue eyes.

Now that was when Louis got the upper hand- Liam was too distracted and in a second Louis had him on his back against the couch, pinning him down with his thighs locked either side of Liam’s hips. Liam bloody hoped that Louis wouldn’t sit back or shift so he was over his crotch area- that would’ve done no good for anyone. “Louis…” Liam began, but Louis didn’t let him finish, tickling him under his arms and trapping his wrists above his head.

He cheered elatedly, his grin reaching the corner of his eyes. “I win!” he declared, still holding Liam’s wrists tight, still straddling him and holding him down.  
Liam didn’t- _couldn’t_ \- say anything. He was out of breath and Louis was there, his smile so sunny and his lips, _oh shit_ , his lips were just so red and wet as Louis licked them a little. He knew he was staring but he just couldn’t look away, and Louis was _sitting on him_ , smirking at him in that cheeky fashion and-

Louis’ lips were soft as he surged up and caught them on his own, he tasted sweet and hot and-

His arms fell above him as Louis dropped them as if he’d been burnt. Liam looked up from under his eyelids and Louis bolted upright, eyes wide with something more along the lines of utter astonishment. He wasn’t smiling, he wasn’t saying anything, just sitting with his mouth agape still on Liam’s lap.

“Shit! I- sorry, I didn’t mean-” Liam began, but Louis was already standing tugging down on his blazer, making no eye-contact whatsoever.

“I- I have to go.” Louis said quietly, hurrying out the door without looking at Liam once.

Liam flopped back down again, squeezing his eyes shut. He felt his stomach churn up and his chest slowly crushing everything inside as the sound of Louis closing the door behind him lingered in the house many moments after he’d left.

 


	7. Chapter 7

There was a knock on the door. Liam ignored it, lying on his bed facing the wall. Another knock.

“Liam, can I come in?”

Liam refused to reply. His bedroom door pushed open and he felt Zayn sit down on the end of his bed. “Talk to me, man.”

“Don’t want to.” Liam mumbled, curling up tighter in his little ball.

“Liam…”

“Well he hates me anyway, so what’s the point?”

“He doesn’t _hate_ you.” Zayn said, patting Liam’s leg.

“God, I’m such an idiot!”

“Yeah,” Zayn shifted so he could see Liam’s face. “you are. But so is he for not kissing you back.” Liam made a tiny whine and rolled over, looking up at his best friend. Zayn just smiled sympathetically. “You still haven’t told me exactly what happened.”

“Well, I just, it was really- I was stupid.” Liam stammered, sitting up. “I mean; we were watching TV and he started tickling me, like, and we- we were like wrestling, I don’t know, and then he won and he was just there…and I just, just sorta kissed him. I don’t know.” He drew his knees up to his chest and hid his face.

“Oh,” Zayn said. “and what did he do?”

“Nothing. He just stared at me. He didn’t say anything- I wish he did, I wish he slapped me or something, but he looked kind of upset…and then I said sorry but he said he had to go and he ran off and I didn’t even try to stop him, Zayn.” Liam peered up at him. “And now I’m going to have to face him at school on Monday, I’m not sure I can do that. _Bloody hell,_ I’m so- ugh, I’m so _stupid!_ ”

“C’mere you wanker.” Zayn pulled Liam into a hug, resting his chin on his head. “It will be okay, we’ll sort it out.”

“But how do you know?”

“It just will. Things always sort themselves out one way or another- life doesn’t like to leave things unsolved.”

“Wow,” Liam buried his face against Zayn’s shoulder. “that was deep.”

Zayn laughed a little, patting his best friend on the back. “If you say so.”

 

 

Down...and back up...and down. Liam lowered his back to the floor again before pushing his elbows forward and pulling himself up again, the muscles in his abdomen feeling warmer and more worked. As he rose up he met Andy's bored face as he held down his toes and counted the number of sit ups he'd done so far.

"Seventy-nine, eighty, eighty-one...” he said monotonously. “Christ, Liam, can we move onto something else? Try the bag for a few swings.”

Liam sat up one last time, drawing his knees to his chest. “Sorry, yeah.” He got to his feet and followed Andy over to the corner where the punch bags hung from hooks on the ceiling.

Left…right…right…bounce…left hook. The bag swayed from side to side violently. Liam caught it in his gloved hands, hugging onto it so it didn’t fall from the hook. It was working though; it always worked. Boxing was the best distraction he’d ever been able to find. He took a deep breath and stepped back, bringing his fists up to his cheek and facing the bag at an angle…one bounce…two… He took two sharp jabs at the sack and as it swung back on a rebound towards him, he ducked to the side, hitting at it from another angle. Again. Dodging the punch bag as if it was an opponent, sudden strikes of his fist against the grain-filled bag and beads of sweat forming on his temple, slipping down the side of his concentrated face. Punch. Turn. Bounce. Jab. Jab. Dodge. He stopped, turning to face Andy who was just leaning one arm on his bag, watching Liam with a slightly illegible expression.

“You okay?”

“Huh?” Liam’s breath was short, he shook his head. “Yeah, no, I- uh, I’m fine.”

“You seem a little,” Andy nodded at the beaten punch bag. “frustrated,”

Liam blinked his eyes shut tight. “No, Andy, I’m fine. Just got a bit more energy today, I guess.”

Andy was smirking a little now. “It’s a chick, init?”

“What?”

“Girl trouble. Gotta be.” He nodded, so sure of himself.

“Hm,” Liam turned his gaze to the floor and then back to the punch bag. “something like that, anyway.”

“Aw LiLi,” Andy cooed, poking Liam’s stomach with his gloved hand. “What’s her name?”

“I…no.” Liam squirmed away.

“C’mon, man, I’m expert when it comes to knowing what to do with the ladies.”

Liam couldn’t help rolling his eyes, “I’ll bet.”

“Like really, the best way to get laid is just grab her face and snog her.”

“Something tells me that won’t work.”

“I’m telling you; you never get in anyone’s pants taking it slow and being a ‘gentleman’. At least that way she’ll know you like her.”

“That’s not the biggest of my problems,” Liam sighed.

“Oh.” Andy said. “Oh…” he repeated, slower, nodding at Liam’s crotch area as if asking a question.

“No, no. Not that, you fuckwit. I’m not fifty!” Liam slapped the back of his shoulder and Andy laughed. “It’s just… ughh, it doesn’t matter anyway.”

“If you keep telling yourself that, you’ll never make any progress.”

“Look, let’s just keep training, yeah? We’ve still got fifteen minutes.” Liam shut off, taking a step back so he was at a better stance to hit the bag from.

Andy didn’t even bother stifling his laughter, weakly brushing his punch bag with his fist. “Alright, Payne. But you know I’m right.”

 

 

“Me and Niall are going out down the pub tonight and you’re coming with us.” Zayn announced as they sat at the back of their English Lit class.

“I am?” Liam didn’t look up from the notes he was scribbling down in his notebook.

“Yeah, I think it will be good for you.” Zayn had his feet up on the empty chair in front of them. He couldn’t be paying less attention to the lesson. “You’ve been pining for a good week or summat now.”

“I am _not_ pining.”

“No, _sure, Liam_. Whatever. But we want to go out and you’re coming too. Niall says you didn’t show up at training on Tuesday.”

“I’m not on the team. Why do I need to show up?” Liam knew he was being cold, but he also knew exactly where this conversation was heading.

“Avoiding him isn’t going to solve anything.”

There it was. Liam sighed, crossing something out in his notes and still refusing to face Zayn. “I’m not avoiding him.”

“Well you haven’t spoken to him since-”

“Yeah, well he hasn’t spoken to me either.” Liam cut him off. “So it’s good. He’s avoiding me and I’m avoiding him. Everything’s fine.”

“Sure sounds like it.” Zayn said, sarcasm ringing in his voice.

“I’m sorry…I didn’t mean to snap. I just-” Liam turned but Zayn was looking out the window, and not at him.

“It’s okay, as long as you come out with us tonight.” Zayn said, more of a statement than a question.

“Fine. I’ll come. But I’m not drinking… I can’t. And you can’t make me, even if you do get a fake I.D.”

“Niall’s got one, it’ll be good. Hang out with the lads, yeah? You can drink your sparkling water or whatever takes your fancy.”

Gently kicking Zayn’s feet off the chair he was leaning on, Liam laughed lightly. “Oh shut it.”

 

 

Pulling on a cleaner shirt than he’d been wearing since he got in from school, Liam flattened his hair down and picked up his phone and checking the last message he’d got from Niall.

_To: +447..Niall_  
Sent: Today 17:07  
-    -   -   -   -  
me n zayn will b round t pick u up in five!!!! see u in a min m8

 

A knock at the door and Liam heard Ruth holler up the stairs to him. He stumbled down, grabbing his wallet off of the window sill on his way and outside where Zayn and Niall were waiting impatiently for him.

“Took you long enough,” Niall chuckled, shoving him playfully as they rounded the corner to the next road where the pub sat at the end. “And what’s all this Zayn tells me about you not drinking?”

“My kidney…” Liam began but Niall waved a hand in his face.

“Kidney schmidney. You drank at my party. But if you’re sure you want to miss out…”

“I’m not. I’m here, aren’t I?”

Niall thought on this for a moment, before his face cracked into a grin and he hopped up the steps to the pub doors.  “Touché.”

“Niall, do you even know what that means?” Zayn laughed, following his lead.

“I don’t know. Ask a French person or something.”

Liam smiled; this was Niall sober, and he’d witnessed him drunk a few too many times before. Maybe one drink wouldn’t hurt.


	8. Chapter 8

"And so she says to her mate that he's the one who started it," Niall hiccupped, taking another swig of his Budweiser. "but that's all bollocks because I was with him at the time."

"Sounds fascinating," Liam looked down at his half empty glass, he wanted to finish it but the second he did Niall would get him another, and he really didn't want to get drunk. Not tonight.

"Up for another pint, Zayn?" Niall asked, already heading over to the bar with his glass.

Liam turned, watching as Niall merrily engaged in conversation with the bartender, and when he looked back Zayn was observing at him with worrying eyes. "You alright?"

Liam ran his finger around the rim of his glass and shrugged. "Maybe, yeah, I think so," He exhaled and set his gaze up at the darts board past Zayn's head so he didn't have to meet his eyes. He knew the exact sort of _'don't-lie-to-me'_ face Zayn was making without even looking at him. "I mean, I don't know." he said. "I think I'm more upset about the fact that we're good friends. And I went and cocked it all up because I'm such an idiot...maybe it wouldn't be as bad if we weren't friends. But...I wish I could say sorry, he probably thinks I'm the biggest dickhead on the planet. He probably doesn't even want to be friends with me, let alone anything else. He probably..." Liam's voice was about a syllable away from cracking, his chest heaving.

"I'm still your friend," Zayn reached across the table and squeezed his hand. "You've still got me." he smiled.

Liam gave a weak smile in return, squeezing his hand back. He loved Zayn. "You're the best," he said. "You really are,"

"Mhmm," Zayn hummed, then nodded upwards. "Looks like Niall bought you another pint anyway," he said as Niall plonked himself back down at their table in the booth, sliding a drink across to each of his friends.

"Sorry I took a while, lads, I was talking to Nick and he was saying about...oh, hey! Harry!"

Spinning around Liam caught sight of a mop of curly hair, grinning and waving at the three as he shimmied through the tables and chairs between him and where they were sat.

"Hi boys," he pulled himself up a chair, positioning it at the end of the table from the horse-shoe-shaped booth Liam, Niall and Zayn had occupied, and sitting on it backwards with the back of the chair between his legs.

"What are you doing here?" Niall asked.

"Decided to come and get a drink with a few of the lads, seen as though Louis won't stop moping."

 _Louis_. Liam's heart stumbled at the mention of his name. Was Louis here? Did Harry bring Louis with him? He could feel Zayn's eyes on him, but nodded at Harry with what he hoped was a straight face. 

"He's just coming with Josh and the others. They were sorting out some money, they won't be a minute." Harry was distinctly not making eye contact with Liam. Had Louis told Harry what happened? Of course he probably had, they were best friends. "Oh, look," Harry glanced over his shoulder as Louis, Josh and two other upper-sixth lads made their way through the pub door, as cool breeze flying in after them. Louis' cheeks were pink and his hair was slightly ruffled from where it was poking out from under a little red beanie that made him look ridiculously, unfairly adorable. 

The smile slipped from Louis' face when he spotted Harry chatting to Liam and something along the lines of guilt bubbled in the pit of Liam’s stomach. He looked down and fiddled with the button at the bottom of his shirt.

“Louis, mate! Fancy seeing you here!” Niall greeted gleefully, squishing Zayn and Liam up along the seat in their booth to make room for the four new arrivals to sit down.

“Alright, Niall?” Louis said, parking himself on the edge of the seat furthest from Liam.

“I was just telling Liam about how we missed him on Tuesday at training,” Niall nodded in Liam’s general area. “didn’t we, Lou?”

“Huh,” Louis made a small sound and shrugged. “Yeah,” Though he didn’t particularly sound convinced with his answer.

The large clock on the wall read quarter past seven, and Liam planned in his head how he was going to stick it out for another twenty minutes and then sneak off home, pretending he had a headache or something. Then he could crawl into bed and hide under his covers until he shrivelled up from the embarrassment of actually thinking that a straight guy, who happened to be his friend, would kiss him back. _It wasn’t even really a proper kiss,_ he thought; more of a catching of Louis’ lips on his own for about a second and a half. Louis should’ve hit him, really.

Underneath the table Zayn patted his arm once and then cleared his throat and got to his feet, “I’m going for a smoke.” He said, and then glanced down at Liam. “Liam, come with me so I don’t get lonely.”

“Okay,” Liam slid out from the seat and followed Zayn out and through a side door, into a narrow alleyway that was empty apart from a few recycling bins against the brick wall and cigarette butts littering the pavement with old chewing gum stains on it.

Creating a hood with his hand over the end of his cigarette, Zayn hit up the lighter, orange glow illuminating his face. He took a few long drags and waited until he’d blown each puff out through his lips before he turned to face Liam. “You’re going to have to speak to him at some point,” he tapped on his cig with his finger, flakes of ash falling to their feet. “he seems just as upset as you.”

“Look,” Liam sighed. He really didn’t want to hear this conversation. “I’ve got a bad headache, I might as well just go home and-”

“No.” Zayn’s hand suddenly gripped Liam’s forearm. “You’re not going anywhere, you’re not avoiding him for any longer and you’re not pining after him with any sympathy from me for one day more.”

“I-” Liam began.

“How fucking hard is it to say sorry?”

“I tried once. But he won’t talk to me. I don’t think Harry’s too happy with me either. It would be easier if I just went home now,”

“Oh, no no no.” Zayn blew out a long puff of smoke and waggled his finger in the air. “You’re not running away from this _either._ ”

“I’m not running away, I’m just-” Liam stopped himself short. “I will _try_ , okay?” he said, exasperated. “But if he doesn’t ever want to talk to me again can you promise you’ll drop it? I’m basically over him already anyway.”

Zayn almost choked on the drag he was taking, he coughed and sniggered again. Prick. “Yeah right, mate. I’ll believe that when you stop looking at him every time he walks past like a lovesick puppy dog.”

“I don’t look at him like that.” Liam lowered his eyebrows and frowned.

“Okay, Liam, okay,” Zayn mocked him, patting him on the head like he would a puppy.

“You ought to watch I don’t put that cigarette out on your precious little quiff, Zayn,” Liam scowled, ducking away from him.

 “Feisty.” Zayn laughed, dropping the butt to the floor and stamping it out with his shoe.

 

Back inside, Niall was retelling the same story he’d told Zayn and Liam before Harry and the others had arrived. Louis was taking the final swig of his pint. He looked up when Zayn and Liam shuffled back into the booth again and caught Liam’s eye for a second. It felt like something was swooping down inside Liam’s chest before Louis’ attention was back on whatever gibberish story Niall had moved on to telling now.

Forty-five minutes and two rounds of drinks later, Liam was feeling a little more light-headed than usual; more than he’d like to feel on a school night, anyway. Louis still hadn’t spoken to him all evening, and at the moment was muttering something to a friend Liam did not know the name of, who was grinning and nodding at what he was saying. Liam didn’t even notice that he was staring, watching the way Louis’ lips moved, the way the corners of his mouth turned when he smiled slightly, how his tongue peeked out a little to lick his lips when he’d been talking a while. Hopefully nobody else had noticed him watching either.

Harry and the other friend had buggered off somewhere to play on the arcade machines, and when Louis nipped off to go to the toilets, it was just Liam, Niall, Zayn, Josh and the boy whose name Liam didn’t know, left at the booth.

Niall quite happily picked up the conversation though, and Liam had always admired his ability to do that. His ability to make friends out of strangers in an instant. When they were younger everyone fell in love with this particular cheeky blonde boy from the moment they met him. What was even more astonishing was the fact he managed to keep all of these friends, like he was building a collection of them. Which probably made more sense out of the obscene numbers of guests at his parties, when Liam thought about it.

“-which, to be fucking honest, was just a waste of everybody’s time and energy.” Niall concluded, Josh and the other boy laughing.

Zayn nudged Liam’s elbow with his, and raised his eyebrows.

“What?” Liam asked.

“Go and find him. Now.”

“But-”

Zayn shoved Liam off the edge of the seat so hard that he almost fell on his arse, but he managed to steady himself, and shooting daggers at Zayn he headed towards the men’s bathroom. He shuffled past an extremely drunk man wearing a rugby shirt who clapped him on the back and yelled “You look just like me boy, Ronnie!”. Liam had no idea who ‘Ronnie’ was, but he ignored him and pushed open the first door to the toilets and then stopped just before he came to the second.

He could hear voices from inside. More specifically; angry voices. Someone was obviously having an argument.

“Look, I don’t know what you’re on about!” One voice was saying.

“Well how else would he find out? You’re the only one who could have told him!” Came the reply. Liam froze. That was Louis’ voice.

“But I didn’t, okay?”

Harry.

Louis was having an argument with Harry and there were parts of Liam telling him not to keep listening, but curiosity also took a hold on him.

“Oh piss off! Like I believe that,” Louis’ voice sounded strained and heated. “This was probably some kind of joke to you, wasn’t it? You know, I really thought, out of all fucking people, I could trust my _best friend_!”

“Louis’ I didn’t…” Harry slowed down, voice trailing off. “If you really think I’m _that_ sort of person, then you should be more careful about who you tell things to next time. Not that I said anything, but-”

“Whatever.” Louis snapped. Liam took a few steps back from the door, Harry came scuffling out from the bathroom and almost did a double take when he saw Liam. He hoped it didn’t look too much like he’d been eavesdropping.

“Oh, um, hello Liam,” Harry mumbled, suddenly looking a bit uneasy.

“Hi, I-” Liam stayed where he was. “I just came to use the loos, is anyone in there?”

Harry looked at him thoughtfully for a moment, his lips moulding into a thin line and then nodded, “Yeah, just Louis.”

“Oh,” Liam blinked. “Alright, see you in a minute.” He said, disappearing into the bathroom as Harry watched him warily.

Louis was there, standing by the sink with his beanie off and running his fingers through his hair, taking a deep breath. He’d caught sight of Liam’s reflection in the mirror coming up behind him, but he didn’t smile or turn around.

Wiping his sweaty palms on the back of his jeans, Liam began to speak. He probably should have planned what he was going to say. “Louis, I needed to talk to you actually. You-”

Louis kept his face expressionless, eyes not moving from Liam’s reflection. Liam chewed his lip, the weight of the look Louis was giving him made him feel uncomfortable. Even more so when Louis shut his eyes and said slowly: “Oh, what do _you_ want?”


	9. Chapter 9

Stunned by the sharpness of Louis’ voice, Liam faltered for a moment. Louis had opened his eyes by now and a vague look of guilt appeared on his face, but it was gone almost immediately.

“I wanted to say I was sorry,” Liam stood where he was, not going any closer to Louis.

“Mmm?”

“I-” he took a deep breath. “Sorry for what happened last week,”

“Whatever.” Louis said quietly- almost sadly. He spun around to face Liam abruptly and leant back against the sink, scanning him up and down.

Liam dropped his eyes to the floor, avoiding Louis’, “Really, I am. It was stupid and I-”

“Yeah, it was.” Louis kept watching him. Liam shuffled his feet.

“I hope you don’t hate me,”

 “Hmm,” Louis made a sound, and when Liam looked up Louis was standing only a few inches away from him, staring directly up at his face. He tilted his head up, and although Liam was a fair bit taller, and probably stronger, something about Louis was still intimidating. He opened his mouth to say something but shut it again, heart skipping irregularly as Louis took one step forward so his chest was almost brushing against Liam’s and he could possibly feel it beating. “Guess your little wind-up didn’t turn out to be as funny as you thought it would,”

Wind-up? Did Louis think he was joking when he kissed him? “Louis, what do y-”

But before Liam had a chance to ask what the hell he was talking about; Louis had shuffled past him and the bathroom door swung shut, leaving Liam by himself.

“Fuck.” Liam breathed, dragging his hands down the side of his face. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.” That’s it, he was done. Hastily sending a text to Zayn, he escaped from the bathroom and out of the pub through the back door they’d used when Zayn went to have a smoke, into the alleyway.

_To: +447...Zayn_  
Sent: Today 21:00  
\-    -   -   -   -  
i tried okay????? he doesnt want to talllk to me so can we drop it??? im going home   .  see u tomrw @ schlllll x

 

 

 

The next morning Liam sat in the common room with a text book in front of him, absorbing absolutely none of the work and using all his will power not to fall asleep or think about Louis- who was sitting right across the room from him, headphones in with his head leant against the back of the couch and not talking to anybody.

His eyes were shut lightly and his hands clasped together in his lap, with his legs crossed up on the seat. He really did look small and _tired-_ Liam thought, it must’ve been the drink last night.

Liam nearly jumped out of his skin when a hand landed on his shoulder and he heard Zayn’s voice in his ear saying; “You’re staring.”

“I think I just upset him more yesterday,” Liam closed his text book as Zayn sat down next to him. “He didn’t want to hear anything. But I still like him a lot.”

Zayn stayed silent for a long while, before he turned his attention from Louis across the room to Liam. “Why do you like him anyway? He’s being a bit of a dick about this.”

“He has every right to be.” Liam said. “And he’s cute,”

“He’s cute? That’s it?”

“Of course not; I’m not _that_ shallow!” Liam looked back at Louis for a moment. “He’s got all this energy and it’s like nothing is for certain with him, and he’s really good with his sisters- its adorable, and he’s, like, _really_ talented and he’s funny, and his laugh is really contagious and-“

“Sorry I asked,” Zayn rolled his eyes. “That is actually disgusting- ew.”

“Shut up!” Liam hit him lightly on the arm, smiling gently. “Anyway, he definitely hates me now- and he likes girls- so I’m fighting a losing battle.”

“You’re sure? Liam,” Zayn turned to him, serious. “have you talked to Harry at all?”

“No. Should I? I mean, he seemed a bit mad at me too,”

“I think you should…”

“Well, I don’t know, Zayn.” Liam said doubtfully, “Yesterday- at the pub- before I went to talk to Louis- I heard them arguing. They haven’t been near each other all day…”

“Really? But Louis and Harry never argue,”

“Mmm,” Liam nodded. “That’s what I thought.”

 

 

He found Harry sitting on the railings outside, on the ramp leading up to the sixth form block, with his phone in his hand at lunch time. Harry popped his phone back into his pocket when he saw Liam approaching and sit down on the railing opposite him.

“Hi.” He said.

“Hi Harry,”

“I’m not going to talk to Louis for you, if that’s what you’re after,”

Liam shook his head, “No, that’s not what I-”

“Probably don’t want to talk to him anyway. He’s acting a bit like a stroppy bitch at the moment, just because I can’t sort his own head out for him,”

“What?”

“He needs to stop jumping to conclusions, especially ones where he thinks everyone is out to get him,”

“I didn’t mean to upset him,” Liam mumbled, guilt scratching inside his chest. “I don’t want him to hate me.”

Harry paused for a moment long enough to make Liam concerned. “Liam,” he said finally. “he doesn’t hate you. Before the other day he never stopped talking about you- he’s just angry at the moment, but he’ll sort it out,”

 _He didn’t stop talking about him? Was that a good thing?_ “He- he doesn’t?” A small wave of relief washed through Liam as a blush to his cheeks. He swung his legs and looked up at Harry. “Were you, I mean, did you have an argument yesterday? I heard you talking in the bathroom at the pub,”

Harry gave a small huff somewhere between a laugh and a sigh and shook his head, “Yeah, I’m pretty sure everyone heard us ‘talking’, he’s just going to have to learn to _listen_ to other people and what they’re trying to tell him. Otherwise he only ends up hurting himself more,”

“He won’t listen to me either…”

“Don’t take it personally,” he smiled sympathetically. “Liam?”

“Mm?”

“Was it really a joke?” Harry asked. “Did you just kiss him for a laugh?”

“What?” Liam choked, apparently trying to recall the English language and how to make sounds while he stumbled for the right words. “I…what? I didn’t- wouldn’t, is that what he thinks it-? What?”

“So it wasn’t a joke?”

“ _No!_ ”

“Hmm,” Harry said. “Why did you do it then?”

Liam sighed. “I-I don’t know…he was just _there_ and I…”

“He was ‘just there’?”

“I need to talk to him. I gotta find him.” Liam hopped off the railing almost suddenly and looked back at Harry.

“Liam- what?”

“Do you know where he’d be?”

“ _Liam._ ” Harry’s voice was stern, but not angry. “Music corridor probably- he’s practicing for his practical performance this week, Liam don’t-”

“I’ll catch you later, Harry,” Liam had already slunk away back inside the building and was on his way to explain himself to Louis. Even if Louis wouldn’t listen.

 

 

There was sound coming from only of the practice rooms, tinkling of piano keys and a quiet mumble of Louis’ voice layering over the top. Liam wasn’t aware that Louis could play piano.

He knocked lightly on the door and pushed it open a crack, “Louis,”

Louis’ fingers faltered on the keys and he looked up slowly. “Oh,” he said distantly, “are you ever going to drop it and leave me alone? I already feel stupid enough as it is so,”

“Louis it wasn’t a joke.” Liam blurted, entering the room and sitting up on the table across from Louis at the keyboard.

“It…it what?” Louis’ eyebrows lowered and he crinkled his forehead, confused.

“I didn’t kiss you for a laugh,” Liam’s heartbeat was picking up pace and he bit the inside of his cheek anxiously. “I didn’t.”

Louis frowned and watched Liam’s face for any signs of fault. “I know Harry put you up for it,” he said. “why else would you?”

“I,” Liam looked down as he rubbed his sweaty palms on his legs. “I kinda like you and I wanted to, so I…so I kissed you.”

Silence.

Louis’ eyes had gone wide and he moved his jaw up and down without making any sound.

“Look, I- I’ll go,” Liam got down off the table and took a step closer to the door. “I just wanted to say sorry, and I- it wasn’t a joke,”

“Wait, Liam. Wait…” Louis stopped him, getting up from the keyboard and holding his arm out to Liam which he quickly put back by his side. Liam turned around and Louis was standing virtually as close to him as he had been the evening before, but his heart hammering twice as hard. “You _like_ me? Really?”

“I- yeah,” Liam flushed, still not looking right at him.

“Really?” Louis had raised himself up on tip toes a bit and Liam could almost _feel_ Louis’ words against his own mouth.

When Liam looked up Louis’ eyes were maddeningly blue and had that unreadable little flash behind them. He nodded and dropped his gaze again, eyes resting on the pink line of Louis’ lips for a split second longer.

And then Louis had pushed up on his toes properly and his mouth was pressed hard against Liam’s, his small hands wrapped around Liam’s wrists as he parted his lips, encouraging Liam to open up to him. It felt like the air was being ripped out of Liam’s lungs when he did and Louis’ tongue flicked against his, Liam finally managing to remember what was going on enough to kiss Louis back. Gently tugging on his lower lip between his own and his eyelids falling shut as Louis’ hot mouth moved against his own, coaxing a small gasp out of him when he felt Louis’ teeth drag lightly along his bottom lip.

Louis dropped himself off his tip toes, breaking his lips from Liam’s as he did, and let go of Liam’s wrists. When Liam opened his eyes, Louis’ mouth looked wet and red and _used_ and Liam could feel that little pull inside his stomach.

The smaller boy was still watching him, the little flash remaining in his eyes and he was standing the same distance from him. Just close enough for Liam to hear him make a little, “Huh.” sound before Louis brushed past him and out into the corridor.


	10. Chapter 10

It was the final class of the day; Liam wasn’t really paying attention anyway when he sat tapping at his phone underneath the table. Louis had seemingly vanished into nowhere after he’d left Liam standing dizzy in the practice room.

_  
_

_To: +447...Louis_  
Sent: Today 14:13  
-    -   -   -   -  
what the fuuuck was that louis??!

 

He had barely put his phone down in his lap and picked up a pen to make a start on his notes when he felt it vibrate as a reply came in.

_  
its called a kiss , liam._

 

The girl Liam sat next to watched him out of the corner of her eye with an irritated sigh, but kept silent and focused on her own work. Frowning, he replied;

_  
idk what u think ur doing but ur confusing as hell_

 

“Psst, Liam!” Zayn threw a piece of an eraser at the back of his head.

“What?” Liam hissed, looking back.

“You alright?”

Zayn was sat in the chair directly behind him and Liam scooted his chair back to talk to him. “I’m just- I don’t know.”

“Did you find Harry?”

“Yeah,”

“And what did he say?”

“It’s confusing- but I found Louis too.” Liam said quietly. The girl next to him clearly wasn’t happy with this term’s seating arrangements. Well, she was sat between Zayn and Liam- so who could blame her for the constant eye rolls and disapproving head shakes.

“Oh?” Zayn perked up, raising an eyebrow. “And?”

“He’s confusing as well. More confusing than Harry is, anyway,”

“Malik! Payne! Something you’d like to share with the class?” Ms. Avers snapped, glasses slipping down the bridge of her nose.

“No ma’am, sorry,” Liam looked from Zayn to their teacher, then picked up his pen as if he was about to continue copying out from the textbook.

“Sorry Miss,” Zayn apologised too, throwing one last piece of eraser at Liam before facing his own work again.

The teacher continued babbling on about The Cold War and the Prague spring under Dubcek but right now Liam couldn’t care less. His lips still felt the pressure of Louis’ on them and his mind was reeling over a thousand thoughts per second. The main thought being; _‘what the hell did Louis mean by that?’_.

_  
_

_From: +447...Louis_  
Sent: Today 14:19  
-    -   -   -   -  
you’re not much easier to read either !!!

 

Liam was half way through typing out his reply when there was another buzz from an incoming text.

_  
_

_come to training tonight         x_

 

Something fluttered quickly inside his chest and he sent the response _‘ okaayy  x ’_ almost immediately. Anything he hoped to learn from the rest of the lesson was a lost cause- he pretty much struggled to remember how to write whilst telling himself _he probably just wants to talk_ and fretting over what the complex signals of Louis Tomlinson really mean.

 

 

 

“Glad you decided to come- it’s been a while!” Geoff grinned as Liam stood by the side-lines watching half the boys trip over their own feet instead of looking at Louis.

“Mm,” Liam said. “Well I didn’t have that much homework to do tonight, and I figured I may as well come see how the boys are getting on.”

His father gave him a friendly slap on the back and laughed a little. “Your mum thought you’d got in a fight with Tomlinson or something, seen as though he hasn’t been over in a while.”

“No,” Liam shook his head, still restraining his gaze from following Louis jog round the pitch. “I guess he’s been busy with his A-Level stuff. It’s coming up that time of year.”

“Boys! Stan, Michael; stop pissing about and just do the exercise I told you!” Geoff hollered, “Wait, never mind. We’ll just have a ten minute five-a-side match before it’s time.”

“But there’s eleven of them, dad.”

“I’ll sub,” Louis called, and for the first time that evening looked over at Liam. “I don’t mind.”

Geoff hesitated but Louis was already walking off the pitch. “You sure?”

“Yeah, I- I’m a bit tired, anyway.”

“Hmm,” his brow lowered disapprovingly but he agreed despite his dislike of having Louis as a substitute rather than playing. “Alright. Liam; go start putting all this stuff back in the car.” He said, chucking the keys at him and returning to sort the remaining players into their teams.

 

 

Removing the ball bag slung over his shoulder Liam dropped it into the boot of the car, stretching up on his toes to pull down the door and slam it shut. What happens when his dad finds out he has the most ridiculous crush on his ‘star player’? he questioned himself, and all he could think of was- no, his dad can’t ever find out.

Liam turned the key in the lock, clicking it shut and turned to head back to the pitch behind the changing room blocks when somebody came flying at him- mouth crashing against his. His eyes flew wide open and he made a slight “oof” against Louis’ lips- which formed into a small smirk at that.

“Still fancy me, do you?” Louis asked, breaking away from Liam.

“I- I, well, yeah…but what are you-?”

“I guess I owe Harry an apology then,” he said, then looked up at Liam sincerely. “and you.”

Confused, Liam shook his head. “Louis, what was all that about, earlier today?”

“I’m sorry- I thought that Harry had told you. And I was mad at him for not keeping a secret, and mad at you for going along with his plan- and I’m sorry, okay? I’m sorry for acting like a bit of a dick the last week,” Louis’ voice was quiet and his eyes not meeting Liam’s. But Liam didn’t understand anything.

“What plan? I don’t get it… what did you think Harry told me? He didn’t say anything.”

“Well I knew it wasn’t Hannah who told you- she doesn’t really know who you are.”

“Told me what, Louis?” Liam frowned. None of this was making much sense.

“That we broke up because I realised that girls didn’t really do anything for me. And maybe I liked someone else a little too much,” Louis had stepped back, as if Liam was going to be mad at him. He hung his head, forehead creased with his heavy frown. “You, Liam. I told Harry and then the very same day I sorta come out to my best friend- you kiss me. And I thought that- I thought he’d told you and you kissed me to see how serious I was. Because I know that Harry thinks half the stuff I say is bullshit- and, well, most of it probably is but I-”

“Louis…” Liam said delicately and Louis looked up, “I already told you that Harry didn’t tell me to do anything.”

“So you _definitely, one hundred per cent_ like me, then?” Louis asked and Liam’s cheeks heated.

“Yeah,”

Louis shuffled closer, raising his head upwards so he could still keep his eyes on him. “Really?”

Liam gave a small nod then closed his eyes, catching Louis’ lips with his own and Louis didn’t object; kissing him back slowly, softly, hooking his fingers in the front pockets of Liam’s jeans to pull him closer.

This couldn’t be happening- the boy Liam had been crushing on for the good part of a year couldn’t be standing in front of him telling him that he liked him and kissing him back. But it was, and Liam’s stomach was playing jump-rope and his head was swimming and Louis was kissing him so he really couldn’t help the smile that emerged underneath Louis’ lips.

“So…” Louis said, pulling back from Liam and biting his own lip over his little grin. His hair was ruffled and his face rosy from running about after a football, there was mud across his knees and grass stains on his shirt but- _god_ \- he was attractive and his mouth was so warm and gentle.

“So..?” Liam beamed, Louis still had his fingers in the front of Liam’s jeans and he wasn’t letting go.

“Well, I like you and you like me. So what now?”

“So,” Liam could hardly keep up with the speed his heart was pounding at. “I guess we should, like, go out, maybe, sometime.”

“Yeah,” Louis smiled. “yeah, cool. Could we just- well,”

“Yeah?”

“Could we not tell anyone _just_ yet?”

Liam let out a sigh of relief and nodded. “I was going to ask you the same thing.”

“So we’re good? This is just between us- like, like our own little secret or something.” Louis asked, that wicked glint in his eyes.

Liam giggled quietly and ducked his head, “Yeah, it’ll be _our_ secret.”

“Good.” Louis grinned and quickly pecked Liam on the lips before letting go of his jeans. “I’ll text you later, yeah?”

“Okay,” Liam nodded, still feeling lightheaded. “See you!”

“Later, Liam!” Louis called as he bustled away to the changing rooms as the other boys were dismissed from their match.

“What’re you smiling about?” Geoff asked suspiciously as Liam passed him the keys so they could climb in the car.

“Nothing, I just- I’m just glad I got a chance to come today.”

“Oh. Right.” His father said and threw the bag with the make-do goal posts on to the back seat. “Well, that’s good. You coming to Sunday’s match then?”

“Yeah,” Liam said. “Yeah, I think I will.”

 

When Liam got out of the shower that evening he had two new messages from Louis, a third buzzing in as he picked up his phone to read them, towelling off his hair and shaking the droplets of water from it.

_  
_

_From: +447...Louis_  
Sent: Today 20:57  
-    -   -   -   -  
heey xxx

_  
_

_Sent: Today 21:00_  
-    -   -   -   -  
i don’t think we can count playing fifa as a first date !! xxxxx

_  
_

_Sent: Today 21:04_  
-    -   -   -   -  
liam , what are u up to ? :) xxx

 

Liam smiled to himself, pulling a t-shirt over his head before he replied:  ‘ _hiii louu! xx i jus got out the showerrr sorryyy for not replying!! What should we do then?????? xxxx ’  
_

 _  
_Louis told Liam he had an idea- but it was a secret, and no matter how many frowny faces and ‘pleeeease’s Liam put at the end of his texts; Louis wasn’t telling. Liam was surprised at how _easy_ it was to talk to Louis, he didn’t even notice that the clock turned over from 23:59 to 00:00 as he leant against the wall, sitting on his bed.

  
It turned out that Louis still managed to get the same sarcastic wit across via text, and make Liam laugh out loud at quarter past midnight. Louis was better at English than he was, clearly, but when Liam apologised for his awful spelling Louis just replied _‘  don’t be . It’s adorable xx ! ’_

Louis kept on referring to them as ‘our secret’, and he made Liam promise that he wouldn’t even tell Zayn. Liam agreed, so long as Louis wouldn’t tell Harry. Not that they didn’t believe their best friends wouldn’t be supportive- it was just less likely to be news to less supportive people if only Louis and Liam were the ones who knew about it. Whatever ‘it’ was.

_  
_

_From: +447...Louis_  
Sent: Today 01:49  
-    -   -   -   -  
i can barely keep my eyes open xx I’m trying not to pass out on you babe !

 

Liam’s chest did a little swoop at that. “Babe” he mouthed silently. ‘ _go to sleeeeep lou , its almost 2a m xxx ’_ he answered, laying down on his side and settling into his duvet. 

  
Louis’ response came in a minute later _‘night night :) xxxxx ’_ Liam smiled rolling over to type out his reply, before setting his phone down.

_  
_

  
_sweet dreamss xxx_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> apologies for the stupid amount of fluff at the end and also that it's a really short chapter that I took ages to upload so yeah, hope its not _too_ awful


	11. Chapter 11

 

Liam wasn’t quite sure how he was supposed to go about keeping whatever this thing with Louis was a secret when Louis was staring at him from across the crowded corridor with his eyes all bright and his little teeth biting down on his lip. Really, it was all Liam could do to hold in his laugh and stop his knees from buckling underneath him.

He had a hard enough time trying to pay attention in PE theory and take an interest in progressive overload and the principles that apply to it anyway, without constantly turning around in his seat to watch the minute hand push on until break time arrived and he could meet Louis.

“Liiiiiaam!” Zayn slung his arm over Liam’s shoulder as Liam emerged from the classroom as their teacher finally dismissed them and allowed them out to break. “How was your lesson? You don’t seem as mopey today.”

“I wasn’t mopey at all,” Liam objected, letting Zayn pull him out of the building. “and it was good.”

“Sure you weren’t,” Zayn said, earning a small shove from Liam.

“Well, I got to go and see Ms. Webber about my Shakespeare essay,” Liam unwound his best friend’s arm from his neck, grinning as he dipped out of his hold. “why don’t you go fetch us a seat in the canteen and I’ll catch up with you in a bit?”

“Ughh, fine. Don’t want some bratty Year Nines nicking our table, now,”

“Okay. Go on,” Liam waved Zayn away, and waited until Zayn was completely out of sight ducking down a totally different corridor.

Louis was there already when Liam showed up, of course he was. He was leaning against a locker, hands shoved in his pockets and fringe falling in front of his face. He looked up and pushed it out of the way, smiling widely when he noticed Liam approaching. 

“Hey,” he said quietly, and Liam felt his lips twitch up into a smile back at him.

“Hi, Louis,” Liam rested a hand against the locker next to Louis’ head, feeling wings fluttering inside his belly.

The corridor was completely empty by now, everybody else having dispersed to their usual spaces for break. Louis glanced around quickly, before he tilted his face up to Liam and tugged on his school tie, pulling him down and sending Liam’s mouth colliding against his.

Liam made a startled sound but didn’t hesitate to kiss Louis back. And yeah– he could get used to the feel of Louis’ lips against his own. He kissed Louis deeper, backing him further up against the lockers before Louis made a little squeak and chuckled, breaking away from Liam by about a half a centimetre.

“The padlocks are digging into my back,” he explained, grinning.

“Oh, shit, sorry,” Liam blushed, but Louis was pulling him back down by his tie again and dragging them around the corner to the wall where he pressed Liam back and reconnected their mouths.

“Hmm,” Louis hummed, pulling away and looking up at Liam. “How’s tonight for you?”

“Yeah,” Liam nodded, trying to remember how to breathe, “Yeah, for this ‘surprise’? Tonight’s good.”

Louis smiled and waggled his eyebrows, “tonight.” He repeated and set about re-adjusting Liam’s tie for him on his chest. “Don’t bother getting dressed up all fancy.”

“Alright,” Liam replied, still breathless.

“Though I’m sure you clean up pretty nice,” Louis looked up at him with a playful grin. “I’ll talk to you later, Liam.”

“Yeah, later,” Liam said as Louis walked the opposite way down the corridor, stealing a glance over his shoulder for a second and smiling at Liam.

He made his way across the grounds to the canteen where he found Zayn with his feet up on the seat, saving a spot for Liam. “No bloody rush, Liam,”

“Sorry,”

Zayn tilted his head and looked at him inquisitively, “Why are you smiling?”

“What? Is it illegal to be happy now?” Liam asked, sitting down.

“Prat.”

“You love me really,” he laughed.

“Hmm,” Zayn said fondly. “Whatever.”

 

 

Liam stood in front of the mirror that evening holding a clothes hanger in each hand with two different shirts. His first instinct was to send a picture to Zayn and see what he thought but, no, Zayn wasn’t to find out- this was his and Louis’ secret.

Falling back into his bean bag he unlocked his phone to see a new message from Louis reading ‘ _what time will everyone in your house be asleep by? xxxx_ ’

“Liam?” his mother poked her head round the bedroom door. “I’m going to bed now, can you turn out the landing light when you go?”

“Yeah, Mum. Goodnight,”

“Night, sweetie,” she smiled, pulling the door to as she left.

Liam dropped his eyes to his phone again and replied, ‘ _give it 45 mins // 1hrr xxxxx  ’_ and eventually decided on a white t-shirt and dark denim jeans. He sat waiting for a response from Louis, listening to the sounds of his sisters moving in and out of the bathroom getting ready for bed. It wasn’t long before his dad hollered goodnight from outside his room and Liam’s phone buzzed with a message from Louis saying; ‘ _i’ll see you soon then !! Xxx_    ’

He flicked the light off on the landing like his mum had said, before he slipped into his jeans and pulled the t-shirt over his head,  running his hand through his hair as he looked at his reflection, and sorting out his t-shirt out a bit. His breath was shaky but, strangely, he didn’t feel all that nervous- he knew what Louis was like, they’d hung out before, just not like _this_.

Waiting for Louis to text and say he was outside was almost agonising. Liam found himself checking the clock on his phone pretty much every two minutes. He was just about to ask him where he’d got to when a new message came in; ‘  _look outside your window;) xxx_   ’.

There, when Liam pulled back the curtains, was Louis waiting on his front lawn, a small backpack on his shoulder and the giant grin plastered across his face- still visible even in the dim light given out from the streetlamp across the road. Liam smiled at him and waved and Louis motioned him down.

“One second!” Liam mouthed, wobbling as he tried to pull his converse onto his feet as quickly as possible.

Creeping downstairs without waking any of his family proved more difficult than Liam had planned. Every time a stair creaked below him he froze, listening from any sign of movement from the bedrooms. It took a while, but he finally got there and pulled open the front door, slipping outside to be pulled into a tight hug by Louis.

“Took your time,” Louis laughed, looking up at Liam with his arms still around his middle.

“I didn’t want to wake anyone,” Liam explained. “What’s this surprise, then?”

“Ooh, come with me!” Louis unwrapped himself and took hold of Liam’s hand, leading him down the street and Liam was glad it was dark so that Louis didn’t notice him blushing at his touch.

Sometime while he was being dragged along to only-God-knows-where by Louis, Liam’s mind latched onto the idea that maybe it’d be nice to hold hands with Louis in the daylight, and give him a kiss on the cheek as they parted ways to go to separate classes in school.

But that was silly, he reminded himself, two _boys_ can’t hold hands in public- not if they didn’t want an endless string of prejudiced abuse thrown their way. It made him feel kind of hollow, the more he thought about the consequences of doing what he _really wanted_.

“Louis, are we there yet?” Liam whined, stumbling over his feet as Louis pulled him around a corner, shuffling down the alley between the back of the church and some houses.

“Shh,” Louis grinned back over at him. “Nearly.”

It wasn’t long before Louis came to an abrupt halt and Liam almost tripped again- though he liked to blame this sudden bout of clumsiness due to the fact he had one of the prettiest and most fascinating boy’s fingers intertwined with his own.

“Liam?” Louis’ voice was hushed.

“Yeah?”

He didn’t reply, just squeezed Liam’s hand before letting go and hopping up onto the wooden gate they’d stopped in front of. Swivelling his legs round, he dropped himself down over the other side, landing softly in the long grass and looked back at Liam, eyes bright and daring.

“Lou,” Liam started, eyeing the sign on the gate that read ‘ Private Property: No Trespassing! ’. “Are we allowed over here?”

“As long as we don’t get caught,” Louis waggled his eyebrows and that was enough make Liam laugh and hop over the rickety old gate as well.

Liam looked around, the field they were in; an acre of knee high grass, trees outlining the perimeter on three sides, where a creeper covered fence closed of the area from the main road running along behind it. “What are we doing?”

“Over here…” Louis tugged on Liam’s wrist, taking them both to the side by the largest trees, “Whatever we want, Li. Nobody, well I think, even owns this land anymore.”

“You’re kidding!” Liam said and fitted his hand into Louis’ again, allowing him to be guided by the older boy.

Stopping at the thick trunk of the oak tree and dropping the bag off his shoulder, Louis turned to Liam and smiled, shrugging coyly. “Okay, so, I didn’t really have any money… anyway I’m not so sure anyone’s going to be impressed if I ask to take you out to a fancy restaurant with candles and a rose in my hand, they might get suspicious- or bring you along to some sappy rom-com where we run a high-risk of seeing people from school, but,” he rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand and shuffled his feet. “I don’t know, I bring the girls here sometimes. It’s nice. I mean, there isn’t even that much traffic noise this time of night, and, oh- I bought beer- that’s what’s in the bag- but, like, I just thought it was cool, and I wanted to show you. It’s nice to just sit and, yeah”

All the while Liam felt his chest swell and his cheeks grow hotter, it was the most he could do chew his lip in an attempt to stop his smile from breaking his face in two. “Wow,” he exhaled. “Louis, you- I don’t care if you- this is cool, this is- wow, Lou,”

The corners of Louis’ eyes crinkled as a smile spread across his face, “Yeah? Well,” he tugged on Liam’s hand again, sitting himself cross-legged in the grass in front of the tree and drawing Liam down with him.

“What?” he asked, the smile still playing on his lips when he noticed Liam staring at him with a somewhat dopey, wondering expression.

“Nothing,” Liam replied, twisting his arm so he draped it around Louis without letting go of his hand.

“Hmm,” Louis laughed quietly and Liam noted, for the millionth time since he’d known Louis, how pretty his laugh was, hanging in the air around them. “Look!” he reached up into the sky, pointing vaguely with his free hand. “a shooting star!”

“That’s an airplane, Louis,” Liam laughed too, burying his face into Louis’ shoulder.

“I know, damnit. I was _trying_ to be all sentimental and romantic. Bloody hell,” Louis tilted his head so it rested on Liam’s.

“You’re an idiot, has anyone ever told you that?” Liam blinked up at him.

“Uhm, it rings a bell,”

“An idiot with pretty eyes, a nice laugh and a great arse,” Liam continued and Louis slapped his thigh, with an exaggerated sigh.

“I knew you only liked me and agreed to go out with me because of my arse,” he didn’t lift his hand from Liam’s leg.

Laughing again, Liam let his own fall to cover Louis’ and grinned when he felt Louis moving as he giggled too, “Yeah, definitely.”


	12. Chapter 12

 

The sun was almost coming up by the time Liam walked Louis to the front of his drive, and he was teetering on the line between buzzing and falling asleep on a heap on the pavement.

“Thank you, Louis,” Liam said and Louis smiled sleepily at him.

“Thank _you_ ,” he stole a quick kiss and Liam felt Louis’ eyelashes brush against his face. “We’ll absolutely have to do this again,”

“Yeah, sure,” Liam smiled, his lips on Louis’ cheek.

“Mm,” Louis took a step back from Liam, dropping his hands. “Goodnight, Li,” he said, quickly trotting back up to the gate that lead round to the back of his garden but paused before he pushed it open, and turned around. “Get home safe, and text me so I know you didn’t get eaten by a bear!” 

“Well, okay, you know how notorious this neighbourhood is for wild bears at four am,” Liam laughed when Louis poked his tongue out at him, flashing a cheeky grin and a before disappearing around the back of his house.

 

Zayn had to kick Liam in the shins at least three times the following day to wake him up from when he’d dozed off in lessons. Though his eyes were stinging red from only forty minutes sleep, Liam couldn’t keep the smile from his face. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt so happy, or the last time things had made so much sense.

 

The next time Louis and Liam snuck off, Liam told his parents he was going out with Zayn and Niall, and then met Louis around the back of the rugby club building at the park, where he was greeted by a smiling face and a ninety nine ice cream. Half an hour later they were sitting on a tree stump at the bank of the river behind a shield of trees, licking the sweet taste from each other’s mouths.

 

Liam offered to help Louis babysit his sisters one afternoon which resulted in him brandishing pink pearly nail polish (that ended up over most of his hand) and having one of the twins on either side of his head trying to put his hair up in pigtails.

“Oh my god,” Louis doubled over in laughter, “you look _ridiculous_ , Li!”

“Shut up,” Liam rolled his eyes flippantly, still being pinned down by two five year old girls. 

“I so need to get a photo of this,” Louis exclaimed and before Liam had a chance to object the shutter sound went off from Louis’ phone and he began to giggle again. “This is going to be my new lock screen,”

“Oh god, Lou, really?” Liam blushed and when Louis waggled his eyebrows under his fringe, Liam couldn’t stop the grin from escaping him.

 

On an evening where both his parents and Nicola were out, Liam invited Louis back, knowing that Ruth wouldn’t even leave her bedroom the entire night or turn off her blaring stereo until about one in the morning. They cuddled up on Liam’s bed and it was Louis who decided on watching Grown Ups. 

Every time Louis buried his face against Liam’s neck when he giggled, Liam felt his heart swell five times bigger. Louis was a warm weight sitting almost on his lap, and he smelt faintly of Lynx body spray and _boy_ and his little body shook when he laughed, fingers pressing into Liam’s arm and Liam had to remember how to breathe every five minutes.

They shared a bowl of popcorn between them and Louis seemed to think it was fascinating to trace the line of Liam’s jaw with one pressed under his finger, the sticky piece rolling against his skin before Louis pushed it up into his mouth and grinned at him. In the end, Louis just lay back with his leg’s across Liam’s lap, casually throwing pieces of popcorn in the air and trying to catch them in his mouth, cursing when he missed or one landed in his eye.

“You’re not very good at that, babe, are you?” Liam chuckled and Louis gave an over-the-top gasp, throwing pieces at Liam instead.

“Shush, you,” he said, pushing Liam back to kiss him, both forgetting about the film playing behind them.

 

Liam found himself at the side-lines of most of Louis’ football matches, cheering along with everybody else. He was cupping his hands over his mouth to yell “Go on, Tommo!” whenever Louis got close enough to the goal with the ball at his feet.

“You and Louis seem to have become good friends,” Geoff pointed out one match, when he caught Louis smiling brightly at Liam after a great pass.

Liam felt his stomach drop anxiously, and looked up at his father, “Yeah, um, I guess. He’s cool,” he shrugged, in what he hoped showed nonchalance. 

“That’s great!” his father patted him on the shoulder, grinning, “I was thinking you needed more mates, y’know, other than that arty kid… whatshisface,”

“Zayn?”

“Yeah,” Geoff nodded. “You’re going out more, you’re a lot less grumpy.”

“I was never grumpy,” Liam opposed but Geoff just laughed lightly.

“Whatever, it’s good for you- have different friends,”

He turned to smile at his father and nodded, “Yeah, s’pose it is,”

 

Liam really liked Louis; a lot more than he’d ever liked another human being. It was just that everything about him was so endearing; his smile and how he could make anybody laugh, the way he looked down and shuffled his feet when he was shy, his undeniable ability to brighten a room just by walking into it, his _eyes_. 

“Liaaamm… Liiiiiiiaaaam..”

Liam snapped back into the real world, focusing on Zayn snapping his fingers in front of his face.

“Liam, what is the matter with you these days? You seem like you’re sleepily high all the time,”

“Nah,” Liam said. “I don’t know, mate, I just feel a lot better about everything,”

“Everything being?” Zayn quirked an eyebrow.

“Like.. life, stuff, I don’t know- just like everything,” Liam didn't mean for his voice to come across quite so cold.

“Great. Fucking brilliant,” Zayn sat back and folded his arms, “I often wonder how you’re not getting an A* in English Lit with descriptions like that,”

“What’s your problem?” Liam asked. He’d known Zayn for years- enough to recognise that slight undertone of annoyance in his voice. “Is it a bad thing I’m _happy_?”

“Not at all. It’s just; you’re keeping something from me, Liam. I’m not an idiot. I thought we didn’t do secrets,”

“Zayn, sorry, I’m-” Liam began but cut himself off, sighing. “I know you’re not an idiot… don’t be mad at me. Please?” 

“I’m not.. m’not mad at you.” Zayn put a comforting arm around his best friend’s shoulders. “I’m glad you’re happy, at least you’re not pining anymore,”

Liam chuckled, leaning into him, “I never _was_ pining, anyway, it’s cool. Things have long since been sorted out with Lou,”

Zayn grinned down at him before Liam felt him shift his arm around him and manoeuvre him into a headlock, ruffling up his hair with his fist.

“Zayn!” Liam squirmed, laughing and trying to poke him in the ribs to let go of him.

Zayn laughed, keeping his hold on Liam and tickling his sides, shaking his head. “What _am_ I going to do with you, Payne?”

 

They were home alone Louis was lying on his stomach on his bed, chewing on the end of his pen and glasses slipping down his nose as he flicked through his text book. Liam was carding his fingers though Louis’ hair, testing him on the components of African music for his upcoming A-Level mock. 

“Louis?” Liam’s fingers stopped at the nape of Louis’ neck and Louis frowned, blinking up at Liam.

“What is it, babe?” he lowered the pen from his lips, a concerned look across his face.

“I just, well, we don’t have to- if you don’t want; but, maybe we should tell Zayn, and Harry can know too if you want- just a thought, I mean. I’d like him to know,” Liam said cautiously, playing with one tuft of Louis’ hair at his fingertips. “he is my best friend after all,”

Louis rolled over onto his back and gazed up at Liam, his eyes considering and scanning Liam’s face. “Hmm,” he took one of Liam’s hands, playing with his fingers and stayed silent for a while. Worry was beginning to churn in Liam’s stomach- wondering if he’d made a mistake- when Louis nodded and said quietly. “Okay,”

“Really?” relief washed through him and Louis nodded again.

“On one condition- if you’ll just consider me, here, alright?”

“Yeah,” Liam agreed. “What is it?”

Louis shifted so he was sitting up properly and facing Liam, knees touching and took a deep breath. “Well, we can if you,” Louis’ eyes were mesmerizingly blue as he didn’t break eye contact with Liam, “if you want to be my boyfriend?” 

Liam didn’t think he’d ever said yes to something so quickly. Nodding eagerly as Louis’ face broke into a grin, Liam grasped both his cheeks in his hands- kissing him hard until they both toppled sideways, mouths not separating for a second as Louis rolled on top of Liam and Liam smiled beneath his lips. 


	13. Chapter 13

“Wait, you’re _what_?” Zayn’s jaw literally dropped a fraction and he looked between Liam and Louis with wide brown eyes.

“Really?” a grin grew across Harry’s face, dimples popping up.

“Yeah,” Louis smiled bashfully, squeezing Liam’s hand.

“Fuck,” Zayn breathed. “I was wondering what finally got Liam to stop pining twenty-four-seven.”

“Twenty-four-seven, eh?” Louis laughed at that and Liam ducked his head, vowing to flick Zayn in the ear later on.

“Wow, Liam,” Zayn was beaming at him, “I’m so happy for you- for you both!”

“Well we’re happy too,” Liam felt warmth fill his chest, looking at Louis nodding from the corner of his eye.

Harry made a gleeful squeal and clasped his hands together, “You’re so cute! Oh my god,” he pulled his knees up to his chest, “just don’t make out in front of us or anything,”

“Hmm, can’t make any promises I’m afraid, mate,” Louis said, smacking a loud kiss on Liam’s cheek.

“You’re not allowed to tell anyone, okay?” Liam said after he’d finished giggling into Louis’ shoulder. “We’re not sure if we’re ready to come out just yet,”

“It’s alright,” Zayn smiled. “Our lips are sealed.” He mimed zipping his mouth shut.

“Yeah,” Harry copied him. “As long as yours’ are too when you’re around us.”

Louis rolled his eyes and grinned fondly at his best friend, throwing a cushion from the couch at him. “Oh, shut up!”

 

Liam was happy, over-the-moon- in fact, and everything was perfect.  Louis was perfect and Liam was completely endeared by every little thing he did- from how his eyes crinkled up at the corners when he laughed to how he tied the strings of his hoddies across his chest and his playful grin that Liam learnt was soon followed by being tackled and having love bites left hidden just below the collar of his shirt.

 

Of course, Louis understood the reasons why it was a stupid idea to come out to everyone- he understood that Harry and Zayn were an exception- and the two of them would’ve found out either way- but he just forgot sometimes.

Like when he’d come up to Liam in the corridor at school, slide an arm around his waist and bury his face into Liam’s shoulder; before he’d pull away as if Liam had burnt him at the touch, remembering where they were.

They’d fall into step as they walked back to the changing room blocks at the field where he did football training, and his fingers danced along Liam’s wrist, slipping into his palm before he’d realise that they weren’t allowed to do that and would sidestep away from him. That was what sent Liam’s heart into shreds; the lost, disappointed look on Louis’ face as he distanced himself; and when he tried to give a small smile back at him, even though Liam could tell it was hurting Louis as much as it was hurting him to have to act like nothing more than friends.

 

“Liaaamm, you’re a pretty crap goalie. You’re meant to be helping me practice!” Louis laughed, stopping the ball rolling under his foot, facing the makeshift goal they’d created out of two pillows in Louis’ bedroom.

Liam drew his eyebrows together in his best attempt at the puppy dog face, “I’m sorry, babe, but I did warn you I was awful,”

Louis sighed fondly, “I thought you were just being modest.” Liam shook his head. “Turns out you are as bad as you say,”

“Hey!”

“What?” Louis grinned, stepping closer so he was looking up at Liam. “You admitted it yourself; don’t act offended you little git!”  

“You’re mean,”

“I am. But what you gunna do about it?” he tickled at Liam’s sides, pressing against him.

Liam fidgeted and laughed, batting Louis’ hands away, “Gahh! Get off!”

Louis ignored him and carried on tickling until Liam caught a hold on both of his wrists and kissed him, both giggling against each other’s lips.

“You’re so amazing, Louis, you know that?” Liam said, pressing their foreheads together.

“I’ve heard rumours,” Louis replied.

“And you’re really talented.”

“Yeah?” Louis looked up from under his eyelashes at Liam, blushing slightly.

“You’re blushing, Lou,”

“No I’m not,”

“Are so. You’re gorgeous too,”

Louis’ cheeks were properly rouged by now and he laughed quietly at Liam, “Says _you_.”

“What do you mean?” Liam frowned and Louis kissed the side of his jaw, the part of Liam his lips were closest to.

“You’re all tall and broad shoulders and ridiculous abs; biceps; jawline. You’re all big brown puppy dog eyes and perfect mouth and cute little curly hair and you drive me fucking insane, Liam Payne- _ha_ that rhymes!”

Inside Liam’s chest; his heart swelled five times the size and did a little downward swoop, leaving him feeling like he was going to burst. “Yeah,” Liam said gently, “that rhymes.”

Louis laughed quietly and Liam could feel his breath on his cheek, his own breathing becoming short as Louis pressed another kiss to his jaw- and another, mouthing almost inaudibly: “You’re so fucking hot,”

Liam couldn’t reply to that, his eyes fluttering closed as he let Louis litter a trail of kisses further down his neck. Hands finding their way to Louis’ small hips and fingers just spanning across his arse, he pulled his body closer to him- as if there was any space to be closed between them to begin with. 

Louis tilted his chin up and Liam ducked his head to kiss him properly- desperately almost- feeling as though it was burning through his skin where Louis’ palms were flat on his chest. He couldn’t bite back the small gasp that escaped his mouth into Louis’ when Louis rocked his hips up into Liam’s, and he could feel that Louis was half-hard just like he already was.

“Lou-” Liam began but his words melted into a moan as Louis sucked on his bottom lip, rolling his hips forward in a steady rhythm into Liam’s.

Pulling Louis up onto his tip-toes by his hands on his arse, Liam fell backwards, his back slamming against the wall, feeling the small sound Louis made against his mouth as his hips stuttered forward. His dick was achingly hard by this point, straining against the material of his jeans and goosebumps prickled his neck as he felt Louis’ hands travel underneath his shirt- fingers dancing down across his stomach and hooking under the waistband of his boxers, dragging around the elastic.

“Liam?” Louis’ hips stopped rolling and when Liam opened his eyes, frowning, Louis was blinking up at him with his hooded baby blues.

“Yeah? Oh, fuck,” Liam’s gaze was fixed on Louis’ mouth; red and wet and bitten; and he felt heat pooling in his stomach as Louis kissed him hard once again, slowly re-starting the rhythm of his rocking hips.

“Liam,” Louis said; his words hot where his mouth was against the dip at the base of Liam’s neck. Liam rolled his head back, allowing Louis to suck along his collar bone. “Liam, fuck, I wanna suck your cock.”

Liam swallowed and squeezed Louis’ arse as he dragged him in closer, “Yeah,” he mumbled- surprised at how low and shaky his voice sounded.

As he fumbled with the zipper on Liam’s jeans, Louis’ lips didn’t leave Liam’s and Liam desperately tried to keep his hips still to make it easier for Louis to tug them down to his thighs. He could barely register anything other than his dick throbbing in his boxers and Louis biting down on his bottom lip before he was hauled across the room and Louis pushed him onto the side of the bed, dropping to his knees and looking up at Liam.

“Louis, _god_ , I-” Liam let out a moan as Louis’ finger lightly traced the outline of his cock through the thin cotton, hot breath ghosting over Liam’s stomach as he sucked marks along his v-line.

Liam’s hands raked through the back of Louis’ hair as Louis wiggled his underwear down, and smirked up at Liam before his tongue licked a stripe along the underside of his cock and Liam tipped his head back, the air ripped from his lungs as Louis took the tip of him in his mouth.

After coming Liam lay, breathing shallow and completely wiped out, eyes shut and seeing white. Fuck, that was- new and, fuck, wow. He propped himself up on his elbows, every movement shaky, and took a second to see Louis there with his hand down his own pants, and, shit, if his boyfriend touching himself wasn’t one of the hottest things Liam’s ever seen. Then Louis was coming to, letting out sharp groan and dropping his head to Liam’s thigh.

Hauling Louis up to standing off of the floor only resulted in him falling flat on top of Liam on the bed, a dopey smile plastered across his face when he ducked his head and pecked his lips, “How was- Yeah?” he asked.

Liam tried to shift underneath Louis but gave up, more than comfortable with lying there like that, and nodded with a smile to match Louis’, “Yeah.”

 


	14. Chapter 14

Tilting his head back to the outside brick wall of the changing block, Louis faced Liam with an apprehensive expression. “But- but what if I fall on my arse?” he asked.

Liam shook his head and gently pushed Louis’ fringe out of his eyes. “Don’t worry, babe, you’re going to be great and they’ll love you. I’ll be standing on the side-lines cheering you on, yeah?”

Louis gave a small smile but his eyes remained anxious. “But what if-?”

“Shh,” Liam laughed quietly, pressing a kiss to his forehead and snaking his arms around Louis’ waist to pull him in for a hug. “Quit worrying. You’ll be great.”

It took Louis a second before he relaxed into Liam’s hold and hugged him back, burying his face into Liam’s chest, breathing him in. “Yeah,” his voice was small. “Yeah, maybe.”

“If anything does go bad, then they’ll be more opportunities, won’t there? But I’m sure they’ll love you,” Liam said, resting his chin on Louis’ hair. “You’re so amazing, they’d be foolish not to.”

Louis let out a little sigh and hugged Liam a bit tighter. “You’re supposed to say that. You’re my boyfriend; you’re biased.”

“I know. But I’m not lying, Lou.”

“Hmm,” Louis made a sound before he wriggled a little so Liam’s hold was looser and he could look up at him properly. “Really?”

“Yes, really,” Liam rolled his eyes before Louis pushed up on his tip-toes to kiss him quickly.

“You’re the best,” Louis said dotingly.

Liam smiled, looking at the boy before him. _God_ – he was going crazy and he was entirely sure it was Louis’ fault; standing there with a football jersey two sizes too big that swamped him and made him look smaller and cuddlier than ever, with his silly floppy fringe swooped across his forehead and his bright blue eyes squinting as he grinned widely at Liam. “Nope. You are def-”

“Oh, for fucks sake!” called a surprisingly calm voice. “You know, I could’ve guessed that you weren’t straight, man…”

“Niall!” Louis jumped and turned around in Liam’s arms. 

“I knew it. I knew it all along,” Niall didn’t seem particularly bothered having interrupted a moment between his teammate and the coach’s son, standing against the wall with a slight smirk across his face.

Liam opened his mouth to say something, heart thudding at a quicker tempo, but shut it again; at a loss of things to say.

“So… when were you going to tell everyone this little secret, huh?” Niall rocked back and forth on his toes, eyes flitting between Liam and Louis and back to Liam.

“I- we… well, we just…” Liam stuttered but Louis jumped in.

“We _weren’t_! Jesus Christ, mate, you can’t just- ugh,” Louis made a frustrated noise, looking at Niall earnestly. “Please don’t say anything, alright?”

“Alright, alright!” Niall held his hands up in defence. “So, how long has this…” he waved his arms in the air vaguely. “..thing been going on for?”

“Well,” Louis paused. “it must be, like… almost two and a half months by now.”

“You managed to keep this all quiet for almost _two and a half months_?” Niall shrieked and Louis shushed him hastily.

“Yeah, and we’d quite like to keep it quiet for a little longer.”

Liam nodded- still unable to form words.

“It’s alright,” Niall grinned, waggling his eyebrows. “your secret is safe with me.” He mimed zipping his mouth shut and throwing away a key.

“You’re an idiot,” Louis laughed, diving out of Liam’s arms to flick Niall who gave a girly scream.

“Fucking hell. Liam! Your boyfriend’s attacking me!” he squeaked, grabbing Liam’s arm to hide behind him. “Argh! Stop it!”

Liam laughed, spinning away to stop Niall using him as shelter. “I wouldn’t start with Louis, he’ll get you.”

“You tell him, babe!” Louis chuckled still going after Niall.

“ _You tell him baaaaabe!_ ” Niall mimicked in a high pitch voiced. “Ugh, now I’m going to have to deal with the pair of you being disgusting aren’t I?”

“Yep!” Louis grinned, jumping up behind Liam to peck a kiss on the side of his head. Liam laughed again, smiling at Louis.

Niall sighed exasperatedly. “God help me.”

 

 

It was almost full time and nil-nil. The other team had been in possession of the ball for a good while now, and Liam could tell Louis was getting frustrated- especially when the few moments one of his teammates did have the ball at their feet; they didn’t pass to him. It was Niall who eventually managed to take the ball from the large lad playing for the away team, feigning going right and then quickly turning and dribbling it the opposite way down the pitch before hitting it over to Louis.

Louis grinned at him as if to say ‘thanks’ and kept the ball glued to his shoes until an opponent tried to take it from between his feet, but Louis sidestepped him and turned, dragging the ball backwards with the tip of his foot so as to keep it in his possession and tapped it over to Josh, the only one of his teammates running into an open space.

Liam’s eyes followed Louis jogging over to another space, closer to the goal, watching his little breaths as he stood waiting, with his hands on his hips, for another opportunity to take the ball. An opponent had it at that minute, and they span around before booting it half way across the pitch to another member of their team, which was risky enough as it was and no surprise that Calum managed to intercept it and quickly sent the ball back in Louis’ direction.

Out of the corner of his eye Liam noticed his father and the two men observing perk up a little; all eyes on Louis weaving his way between the other team’s players, craftily dodging attempted tackles from them. Liam knew how important this was to Louis, and how nervous he was, though it wouldn’t have been easy to tell watching him own the pitch with such confidence.

Louis was close to the box now, approaching the line and taking two steps back from the ball. _C’mon Louis_ – Liam willed silently. Louis hesitated; biting his lip and a frown creasing his forehead, Liam knew he was nervous but he had two guys come to see if he had a shot at being a professional, (which he definitely did, in Liam’s opinion) and he couldn’t mess it up.

“C’mon Lou!” Liam called out, holding his clasped hands up to his mouth in anticipation.

Louis looked up, slightly confused for a fraction of a second, before he spotted Liam standing just by the side and flashed him a quick grin, swinging his leg back and striking the ball straight into the top left corner of the goal- skipping on his feet as they landed back on the ground.

Niall was the first to give a loud victory cry, sprinting across to Louis and jumping on his back to ruffle his hair, seconds prior to the rest of The Rovers crowding Louis too. He’d done it. He’d won them the match.

Geoff was beaming with pride, but Liam didn’t even care that it wasn’t for him- he was just as, if not more, proud of Louis as well. The two men nodded, which seemed like a good sign, and one of them started talking enthusiastically to the other about something Liam couldn’t hear.

 

 

Back in the changing room all the other lads had packed up their things and left, minus Louis and Niall. Liam watched Louis peel his jersey off, his hair fluffing up as he removed it, and grinned at him. Niall swung his bag over his shoulder, and sighed, indiscreetly rolling his eyes at the fond expression plastered across Liam’s face.

“Bloody hell,” Niall shook his head. “Right. I’m off then. See you later, lovebirds.” He said, ignoring as Louis flipped him off on his way out the door.

“Idiot.” Liam laughed as Louis folded up his shirt and reached for his clean one.

“Yeah,” Louis agreed, stretching out the sleeves of his top and pulling it over his head, “Thank you, Liam.” He said, though his face was hidden completely.

“Mm,” Liam chuckled, stepping towards Louis and tugging his shirt down properly for him. “I told you you’d be great.”

Louis smiled at him brightly, flattening out his fringe. “You were right.” He nodded. “And appreciate that because that’s a statement you don’t often hear me saying.”

“I knew you’d be bloody brilliant!” Liam emphasised, then straightened out Louis’ hair too, bringing his hand round to cup the back of his head and kiss him. Louis smelt faintly of grass and the deodorant he’d just sprayed, and his small frame was warm pressed against Liam’s front, but with the strength to push Liam back. The back of Liam’s knees hit the bench and he sank down to sit on it, helping Louis lift up his hips so he could bracket his legs across him.

Louis sat back on his heels, on Liam’s lap and broke from his lips. He looked down at Liam with bright eyes, and Liam felt almost shy as Louis scanned his face.

“Liam,” Louis said softly.

“Louis,” Liam copied his tone.

“You know, I care about you an awful lot,” he said and Liam’s stomach flipped over.

“Well,” Liam blinked up at Louis, voice low, and held a little tighter to his hips. “I really care about you too.”


	15. Chapter 15

Liam and Louis were sprawled out across Liam’s bed, eyes fixed on the screen in front of them and thumbs gliding over the buttons on the controllers. Liam always beat Louis, resulting in being faced with big blue eyes and a pouted bottom lip as Louis attempted to make Liam feel guilty. Well, it almost worked occasionally.

“No.. no! Argh! Liam what are you doing?” Louis repeatedly stabbed a button, his player running straight at a wall whilst Liam’s ran up a flight of stairs- dodging enemy bullets.

“What am _I_ doing?” Liam laughed, “You’re the one who’s face is against the wall.”

“Pft! Shut up,” Louis snapped without malice, poking Liam’s cheek; who, in return, quickly smacked a kiss on Louis’ while he was engrossed in the game.

“Ha!” Liam said as Louis’ half of the screen faded out to ‘Game Over’. “I win!”

“Go easy on me, Leemo,” Louis frowned, shuffling down a little to lay his head on Liam’s shoulder. 

“Hm,” Liam considered for a moment, “nah.”

“Ugh, you’re so mean to me!” Louis said huffily. He shifted so he was facing Liam, and began prodding at his sides, where he knew Liam was ticklish and would fidget away from his fingers.

“Piss off,” Liam giggled, abandoning his controller on the pillow to try and grab a hold of Louis’ wrists. Louis wasn’t having it, though.

Liam squirmed again as Louis tried to continue attacking him, his small hands pushing against Liam’s torso to force him down. Then, Liam used that opportunity to tickle underneath Louis’ arms, laughing when Louis gave a yelp and curled in on himself, away from Liam.

Grinning at him, Liam waggled his eyebrows before Louis launched himself back over, lying flat across Liam’s chest, beaming too. Liam lay winded, breathless and laughing, trying to move his little lump of a boyfriend from on top of him.

Louis was giggling again, the kind of giggle that made the corners of his eyes crinkle and Liam’s heart feel far too big for his chest as he tried to push back up against Louis, to try to flip them over. However, Louis was surprisingly strong for a small boy, and shoved Liam back down with the press of his hips, rolling them slightly more than necessary; the wicked grin fading from his face ever so slightly and Liam’s breath hitched as he felt Louis half-hard dick rub against his thigh. 

He froze, and Liam could feel his warm breath on his cheek, before he decided to push back up into Louis’ hip so he could feel his semi-hard-on too. Louis’ jaw fell open slightly and he relaxed for a moment; which was all Liam needed to turn them over, pinning Louis down between his legs and his dick straining against the inside of his trousers.

“Li. Liam..” Louis’ voice turned into a small gasp as Liam dropped his head to Louis’ shoulder, beginning to roll his hips down into Louis’. That was it- the small sounds Louis was making beneath him- stiffening him up all the way.

Breathing shallower, Liam continued to grind against Louis, mouthing gentle kisses against his neck and leaving little bites on the soft skin behind his ear. A quiet groan escaped his mouth, feeling their dicks slot alongside each other, rubbing with each small rock of his hips.

Louis had hooked his leg around the back of Liam’s knee and was canting his hips up irregularly, as if desperate for any sort of friction. With each tight circular movement of Liam’s downwards, Louis’ eyes fluttered shut and he made a tiny whimper, his head tipped back against the mattress. Liam had almost forgotten how to breathe and was so lightheaded he was almost certain he was going to pass out.

When Louis came he barely managed to choke out Liam’s name, tensing his legs around Liam and tilting his head even further back, face flushed and chest rising and falling rapidly; creating a warm, wet mess between them. The sight of Louis like that; breathless and mouth fallen open and gorgeous, had Liam coming in his pants too, stuttering his hips forward and the moan swallowed up by the press of Louis’ mouth on his, licking fervently and biting gently on his lower lip.

Liam thought vaguely about how they should probably clean up, dried come being particularly uncomfortable and disgusting as well as how he wasn’t sure if his parents had come home yet, but he really couldn’t focus on anything other than Louis kissing him and kissing Louis back and preferably being able to stay exactly like that forever.

 

Liam wasn’t an idiot. Deep down, he knew that all good things come to an end eventually.

 

Lying with his head in Zayn’s lap on the common room sofa and Zayn playing with a little curl in his hair, Liam sighed looking up at his best friend with large eyes.

“That was a dramatic sigh,” Zayn noted.

“Hmm,” Liam agreed, pausing before he carried on, “Zayn?”

“Yeah?” Zayn raised his eyebrows, smoothing down Liam’s hair now.

“I think that-” he stopped. The words were on the tip of his tongue, had been for a while now, but he was yet to say them out loud; yet to put a name on his feelings.

Zayn waited patiently, tilting his head curiously in anticipation of what Liam had to say. “I think that,” Liam continued, “…that, I dunno, that I love Louis?” the pitch of his voice raising at the end of his sentence, like he was asking question.

Zayn’s face lit up, amused, and he began petting Liam’s hair again, “I think you’re possibly the last person to figure that out. It’s practically written all over your dumb face whenever you look at him or talk about him, Christ,”

“Do you think… well, do you think I should tell him?” 

“If you want to. If it feels like the right time to say it.” 

Liam thought for a moment, then blinked back up at Zayn, “Maybe... You’re my best friend, you know that?”

“Really? Well, that’s too bad,” Zayn laughed, “because you’re mine too.”

“You don’t get upset when I spend lots of time with him, do you?” Liam asked, eyebrows drawn together, worried.

“Nah, course not. It’s just great to see you so happy- even if you are disgusting and mushy.” Zayn chuckled again, pinching Liam’s cheek. “Just so long as you know that if he ever breaks your heart then I’m going to bash his head in, and you won’t be able to stop me, yeah?”

“Oh…” Liam said. “Don’t do that. He won’t- he wouldn’t… Louis isn’t like that.”

“I figured. If I thought he was going to be a dick I would’ve never have him near you in the first place. I gotta protect my baby Liiiiam,” Zayn cooed, drawing out Liam’s name.

“Get lost,” Liam laughed, poking Zayn’s belly as he turned to sit up properly. “How about I call _you_ Zaynie-kins in front of that chick you’re ‘totally-not-hooking-up-with’, huh?”

Zayn narrowed his eyes, doing his best attempt to look threatening at Liam, but unable to wipe the small grin from his face, “Oh. You wouldn’t dare.”

 

 

It was the evening after one of Louis’ football matches, so he was staying a while at Liam’s for his dad to come pick him up. Louis swore that the sooner he got his drivers licence; the better, except he’d taken the test multiple times and hadn’t managed to pass yet. Although, he _had_ managed to tell Liam in a low voice over the phone, in great detail, one night at eleven pm, about how great it would be to have a car so the two of them could drive off to absolutely anywhere, to the middle of nowhere, and wank each other off in the back seat.

But at that moment the two of them were sitting in the living room, fighting the urge to snog one another’s faces off because Liam’s parents were hovering in the hallway, where they could walk past and see them at any given moment. So, Louis was just idly tracing circles with his finger on Liam’s hand which was spread out on the seat between them, and to Liam: it felt like far too much space on the couch from where they were sitting from each other.

“You’re really distracting, Liam, babe,” Louis whispered, looking at him out of the corner of his eye.

“What? I’m not doing anything,” Liam replied.

“No I mean, when I’m playing. Literally all I can think about is running to kiss you after scoring a goal, and checking to make sure you’re paying attention to the game- to me,”

“Well,” Liam said quietly, Louis’ finger still drawing on him, “would it be better if I didn’t come watch?”

“No!” Louis almost jumped, subtly moving a little closer to Liam, “I need you there. You’re my good luck charm.”

Liam laughed, shaking his head, “But you were winning, you were brilliant even since before we started…like, going out,”

“Yeah, but,” Louis sighed, frustrated, resting his hand on Liam’s properly, “you weren’t there the other day and I cocked it all up. You have manipulated my brain so that it only functions well in football when you’re around.”

 

Liam _knew_ he should’ve been careful. He _knew_ it wouldn’t end well.

 

“That’s ridiculous,” Liam said but Louis was smiling at him like he was the best thing in the world.

So, Liam kissed him. Slow and sweet, Louis squeezing his hand, both blissfully forgetting where they were- for a couple of seconds at least. 

It was Louis who broke the kiss, sharply removing his hand from Liam’s and looking at him with wide eyes, scared eyes; like he was on the verge of tears. It took Liam a moment to cotton on to what Louis’ problem was, but he was pretty sure his heart was literally climbing his throat when he heard a small cough coming from the doorway.

He couldn’t breathe. His voice sounded croaky and pathetic even to his own ears when he finally managed to say: “Dad, I…”

Geoff wasn’t looking at him- at either of them- staring at the wall behind them with a blank, illegible expression. “I don’t care.”

Liam cleared his throat, but couldn’t dislodge the lump there, “Dad…” he repeated.

“I think you better go home, Tomlinson,” Geoff said tonelessly, still not directly looking at either of them.

Louis nodded slowly, casting Liam a quick glance as if to say ‘I’m sorry’, before he stood up. “Yes coach.”

Liam wanted to reach out and grab Louis’ hand as he was walking away, tell him that he didn’t have anything to be sorry for, but he physically couldn’t move; couldn’t think anything other than how he was about to be throttled, most probably. “Dad. It wasn’t… I wanted to… I didn’t know how to tell you… You weren’t supposed to, Dad, I…” Liam stuttered, his voice trembling.

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“But _Dad_!” Liam persisted, feeling his eyes begin to well up, his heart beating harder and more painfully inside him.

“For fucks sake, go to bed. We aren’t discussing this now.” Geoff snapped, looking at Liam for the first time. Liam much preferred the unreadable expression compared to the look in his father’s eyes right now.

“I’m sorry,” Liam said quietly. He shakily got to his feet and shuffled past his dad out the doorway, refusing to let the tears fall even after he was upstairs and lying face first in his pillow with the door slammed shut.

“Fuck,” he hissed. “Fuck.” He swung a punch at his wardrobe, the wood splintering against his knuckles, grazing his skin; and punched it again, this time leaving a dent. It did nothing to relieve the tight knot in his stomach, or the fury bubbling under his skin- so he fell back onto his bed, letting out a strangled sob as everything inside of him shattered completely.  


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry it's mainly dialogue but i hope it's okay.

Liam awoke the following morning wearing the same clothes, with heavy eyes and a dull throbbing inside his head. He lay there for a few moments before the memory of the previous night's events washed over him again. Sitting up, he swore and punched the mattress beside him, more frustrated with himself than he could ever recall being before. God, he was an idiot. Not only had he unintentionally outed both Louis and himself to his father, but Louis was probably even angrier with him than anyone.

He swore again and picked up his phone from his bedside table, there were no messages. No " good morning sunshine !!! X " from Louis; nothing. Liam screwed his eyes shut and pressed the heels of his hands into them until spots of lights appeared. It didn't stop his head pounding.

The clock by his bed read 10:32; well, he clearly wasn't going to school today. Swinging his legs around and putting his feet flat on the floor, he attempted to stand up, head feeling light and dizzy as he did. As he went downstairs, he clutched to the banister, finally making his way into the kitchen, rubbing his eyes again.

He almost did a double take when the first thing he spotted was his father sitting at the table, a mug of tea in his hands and one in front of the seat opposite him. 

"Sleep well?" Geoff asked. Liam nodded wearily and slipped into the chair.

He lifted the mug to his lips and took a sip, trying not to make a face at the tea gone cold. "Dad I-"

His father ignored him, "S'pose you're a bit late for school now. I rang in and told 'em you were sick."

"Thanks," Liam muttered into the rim of the mug.

"You know," Geoff said conversationally. "we really don't do enough father-son stuff..."

"Dad, I'm gay,"

"...not since we went fishing."

"Dad."

"We could play golf,"

"Dad..."

"You never gave the football team another chance,"

"Don't ignore me," his voice cane out as slightly desperate and he inhaled sharply, dropping his gaze.

"Sorry," Geoff fell silent.

"I- I guess it's not a secret anymore, huh," Liam tried his best to smile, to pass it off as a laugh, but he just felt numb. "You can yell at me if you want,"

His father remained silent and Liam sighed a little, "You can hit me, but it won't change the fact I like boys,"

Geoff looked up and met his son's eyes for the first time. "I'm not going to hit you. I'm just..."

"-Annoyed? Upset? Disappointed?"

Opening his mouth as if he was going to say something, then shutting it again, Geoff took a deep breath, "Look, Liam; you're a teenager, you're confused in yourself, you go through phases and it's alright just-"

"Fucking hell, it ain't a phase, Dad!"

"-and clearly Louis is just as confused as you are. Now, I know you probably won't want to but I-"

Liam pushed his chair back suddenly as stood up, the beginnings of rage bubbling in his stomach, twisting it and making him want to double over. "I'm done with this conversation."

“Liam! No you’re not, sit back down,” Geoff’s said sternly.

He stopped and scrubbed his hands down his face, turning back to face his dad slowly but not sitting again, “What?” Liam snapped and raised an eyebrow.

“Sit.” Reluctantly, Liam complied, slumping back and folding his arms. “Don’t walk off when I haven’t finished talking to you,”

“Don’t tell me that I’m ‘confused’, because, believe me, Dad, I don’t think I’ve ever been so sure in my life,”

“You’re wrong.”

“Excuse me?”

“Christ, Liam, you’re not even seventeen! What do you know?”

Liam pursed his lips into a thin line, trying not to lose it, “I know that I’m gay.”

“Right.”

“And you’re not going to be able to change that.” He continued.

“It doesn’t matter because you’re still grounded anyway.”

“Grounded for being gay, great. I don’t care,” Liam said. He really didn’t care.

“And I’m not letting you see Louis anymore.”

He sighed and it made his chest ache, but it wasn’t like he hadn’t seen it coming, “I figured.”

“And he’s not on the team.”

Liam bolted upright; _what?_ He could handle being grounded, hell, he was willing to try his very best to forget about Louis no matter how painful it was, but, “But you can’t do that! What about him being able to make it professionally? You can’t do that to him!”

“Well, I can,” Geoff sat back and Liam was on his feet again, hands slammed down in front of him.

“That’s disgusting. You’re going to throw away a talent like that, force him to throw away all his dreams because he likes guys?” Liam’s voice was low and trembling, much like his hands would've been if they weren’t gripping down on the table.

“No, I’m not. It’s not any of my business what he likes or who he likes but it _is_ my business when it’s _my_ son.”

“Why?” Liam was refusing to process any of this, refusing to allow Louis to miss out on his life ambition because of this, “Why is it so bad if he likes me? Did it cross your mind that I like him too? Maybe I,” he paused, speaking quieter, more careful, “maybe I even love him. Did you think about that?”

“Bullshit!” His father barked, straightening up, “You’re _sixteen_. He’s a boy!”

“So?”

“You’re a boy!”

“So? It still works the same. Feelings still work the same,” Liam shrugged and Geoff rolled his eyes indiscreetly. “Why is that so hard for you to understand?”

“Because it’s just not- ughh,” he made a frustrated sound, “we’ve done enough talking for now. Just go to your room,”

“Good,” Liam said, trying to go as calmly as possible back to his bedroom where he pushed the door closed, his arms following the movement it and leant his head against the cool wood.

 _Stupidstupidstupid!_ he cursed himself, angry at the fact he’d let this happen; angry at his father’s ignorance; angry at everything. Guilt was worming its way across every inch of his body and it was making him feel a little nauseous, which wasn’t eased he when he texted Louis “ _sorryyy xx_ _im so sooo so fuking sorry lou xxxxxx_ ”.

He lay there, staring blankly at his ceiling until his phone began to buzz again. Within a split second he fumbled with the keys, pressing it to his ear,

“Louis?”

“Nah, mate,”

“Oh, hi Zayn.” Liam said, feeling his heart sink a little.

“Don’t sound _too_ eager to speak to me, jeez. Are you okay? You’re not dead are you?” Zayn asked and, to be fair, he did sound genuinely concerned, so Liam forgave him causing him mini heart attack.

“No, I’m alive. Why?”

“It’s just, you’re not in today. And you never miss school…”

“Oh,” Liam shut his eyes, leaning back. “Well, you see something happened.”

“Did you and Louis break up?”

“No! Well, yeah, but not by choice I mean-”

“Cause he looks about as fucked up as you sound, man,” Zayn spoke gently, and something in his voice was almost comforting to Liam on the other end of the receiver. “What happened?”

“He’s there? Tell him I’m sorry, please, can I speak to him?” Liam didn’t want to beg.

“No, he’s in class at the moment. I’ll get him to call you at break. Now, tell me, what happened?”

He sighed, trying to sink down as if he made himself as heavy as possible then the mattress would just swallow him up. “Fuck, okay. Please tell him how sorry I am. It’s all my fault.”

“Okay, Liam,” Zayn agreed. “But _what happened_?”

“Well, my dad kinda walked in on us kissing, I mean, it was all innocent, but,” Liam bit his lip, the guilt still crashing in waves within him, “but, he wasn’t too happy- obviously- and well, I would’ve been okay if he’s just yelled at me or whatever…but no, he, fuck, he kicked Louis off the team and it’s all my fault, Zayn, because I’m an idiot.”

There was a long silence on the line and all the while Liam’s heart was hammering, until Zayn spoke again, “He kicked him off the team?”

Liam nodded, before realising Zayn couldn’t see him, “Y-yeah,” he breathed shakily.

“For being gay?”

“No. For being gay with me,” Liam explained and was met by silenced again.

“Ah,” Zayn made a small understanding noise.

“God, I’m an idiot. Why haven’t I been punched in the face more times in my life?”

“It’s your face, mate, punching you is like punching a puppy.”

Liam groaned and threw an arm over his eyes, “he hates me.”

“No he doesn’t, he’s your dad,”

“I mean Louis hates me. He could’ve made it big, but I screwed it up for him. He _hates_ me,” he told Zayn who tutted on the other end.

“Well that’s a load of bollocks if I ever did hear any. He doesn’t hate you. He the opposite of hates you.”

“What’s the opposite of that, then?” Liam shifted, moving to lie on his side as he thought about it and- “Oh.”

“I have to go now, Liam, but I’ll talk to you later, yeah?”

“Zayn?”

“Yeah?”

Liam really did love Zayn. Why was he such a good mate who stuck around for Liam no matter what? If Zayn ever needed anything then Liam literally owed him every hour he had on this earth. “You’re my best friend.”

He could almost hear Zayn’s smile through the phone, “Ditto.”


	17. Chapter 17

“Liam? Can I come in?” 

Liam sighed and looked up, croaking out a “yeah” before dropping his gaze back to his phone and staring at a blank text with Louis’ name as the recipient at the top. He didn’t have a clue what to say to him.

“Hey,” said a soft voice, and then “God, it smells like teenage boy in here,”

“Funny that,” Liam shuffled up on his bed to make room for his sister to sit down.

“Hm. Really, though: are you alright kiddo?” Ruth plonked herself down, bumping his elbow with hers.

Liam shrugged and locked his phone, putting it to one side. He’d see Louis at school the next day anyhow- he had time to work out what he was going to say.

“C’mere,” she made a small gesture with her head and pulled Liam into a slightly awkward one-armed hug. “I don’t know exactly what’s happened but it’s alright, y’know, it’s okay to be gay,”

Liam didn’t say anything, just buried his face into her shoulder. Ruth rubbed his arm gently and tutted, “You’re going to be alright.”

“I’ve never seen dad look so… so disappointed.” Liam’s words came out as a mumble and he screwed his eyes shut. “He’s probably planning to kick me out or something,”

Ruth gave a sad little chuckle and pushed his shoulder away so she could look him directly in the eye. “You’re such a drama queen, oh my god. Don’t be silly, Li, it’s Dad- he loves you more than anything.”

Liam curled in on himself, drawing his knees up to his chest and resting his chin on them, “But he says all that stuff about how it’s not-”

“Oh Liam… you don’t really think he hates you?” she cut him off. “He _loves_ you. No matter what. It’s just a massive shock to him. He doesn’t mean any of them things, okay, believe me; he’ll come around.”

“But Ruth, how do you know?” Liam was trying his very hardest not to cry. 

“You think after almost seventeen years, he could even perceive you not being his son because you like boys? You mean the world to him. Trust me; he’s just shocked and doesn’t know how to handle it very well.” Ruth patted his leg. “Me and Nicola are cool with it, Mum’s came around pretty quickly. We’re your family and we’re going to support you whatever. Nothing has changed, alright?” She pulled him into a hug again. “Nothing will ever change.”

Liam let out a shaky breath and hugged her back as tight as he could, “I love you, Roo,”

She smiled, leaving a kiss on top of his hair as she said: “Yeah, you better do.”

 

 

Zayn was right; Louis did look wrecked. Liam couldn’t tell if his eyes were red from lack of sleep or if he’d been crying- either way, he still looked beautiful in ways that made Liam’s chest ache. He hadn’t quite managed to catch Louis on his own all morning, and Louis was sort of sidestepping him, only raising a small watery smile when Liam first entered the common room before mumbling something about coursework and bustling outside rather quickly.

Liam waited outside of Louis’ classroom after third period, perking up when he could hear them being dismissed and the door opened allowing students to pour out- but Harry guided Louis away with a hand on his shoulder, throwing Liam an apologetic smile whilst Louis just stared at the floor.

At lunch Liam wasn’t hungry so Zayn helped himself to his food between trying to talk about anything to distract him and hugging his side every so often just to let Liam know he was there. Liam barely noticed from where his attention was fixed on the floppy-fringed boy staring at the table, deep in thought.

It was fifth period, last of the day, and he was sitting cross-legged on the PE equipment storage chest outside of the indoor gymnasium when he heard the shuffling of feet and a small cough. Looking up, Liam’s eyes met blue and everything inside of him was almost floating away. Louis stepped closer so he was right up against the edge of the box, taller than Liam as he stood, and then his eyes went soft and he ducked his head, kissing the corner of Liam’s mouth swiftly.

Liam didn’t-couldn’t- respond so he just blinked up at Louis waiting for him to say something. 

“Sorry,” his voice was quiet. “I- I missed you yesterday.”

Liam swallowed and nodded. “Lou-”

“My mum’s alright with it- me and you- my step-dad’s coming around. Liam, I didn’t,” Louis glanced back up at Liam, lip caught between his teeth, “I didn’t mean for you to get in trouble with your dad. I’m sorry.”

“It wasn’t your fault, Lou. Is this what- have you just- have you been feeling bad about this? Because, Louis, the fault was mine. I didn’t mean for you to get chucked off the team- I’ll speak to my dad… tell him it wasn’t you… I’ll get him to give you another chance,” Liam rubbed his sweaty palms on his thighs and heard Louis let out a sad sigh.

Louis caught Liam’s hands in his own and looked him up and down, a frown creasing his forehead, “Babe,” he said quietly. “I’d rather have you than football, don’t worry about it.”

“But Louis… it’s like, your dream, and you really had a shot. It’s just now,” Liam paused, watching Louis’ face carefully, “now you don’t have either. And both parts of that are my fault and I-”

“Liam-”

“You could’ve been great. You were.. _are_ great and-”

“Liam, I love you and I’d give up all of that for you.”

Feeling his breath catch in his throat Liam sat up straighter. There were tears in Louis’ eyes and he couldn’t help it when he reached out a hand to cup Louis’ face and swipe them away with his thumb.

“I love you,” Louis repeated, softer this time.

Liam tugged on the hand he was still holding and brought Louis’ face closer to his, “I love you too,” he muttered against his lips, but didn’t kiss him. He just shut his eyes and they pressed their foreheads together, breathing the same air, breathing each other’s warmth.

“I wish it were easier,” Louis said after a while, “I wish we could walk down the street holding hands. I wish we could sit and have family dinners where I want to push my sisters over for telling you exactly how much I talk about you. I wish I could walk up to you in the middle of the school car park and snog your face off. And all that stuff I said about the other night... I want you to stand on the side-lines of my games and I want to run and hug you- win or lose. I just want-” a small whimper cut off Louis’ words and he sniffed, using the heel of his free hand to wipe his eyes. “Fuck, sorry, I’m a mess.”

“You’re still the beautifulest mess there is,”

Louis laughed gently at that, “That’s not a word, Li.”

“Whatever. You know what I mean,” Liam managed a small smile and squeezed Louis’ hand.

“I do. Anyway, I’d better get back to class, okay?” Louis slid his hand free and took a step back. “We don’t have to be strangers, you know, it’s just…”

“Yeah,” Liam nodded. He knew where Louis was going; they couldn’t quite be like the friends they were before- before even the first time Liam sort-of kissed Louis when they were play fighting on the couch.

“I’ll see you, Liam,” turning around, Louis said over his shoulder, as he walked off down the corridor one step at a time further away from Liam who watched as he went. 

Liam’s hands felt cold and his eyes were stinging and he could almost feel Louis’ breath still on his lips, but he forced himself to hop down off of the chest he was sitting on and get back to his own lesson. The sooner he could get back to how things were before everything then the sooner his mind would stop feeling so foggy and his heart would stop tearing every time he heard Louis say his name in his head.


	18. Chapter 18

 

“We are absolutely shit without him,” Niall threw his head back, frustrated. “We need him back or we’re going straight to the bottom of this division,”

Liam looked down and pulled at a loose string on the cuff of his sleeve, “I’m sorry,”

“Don’t be daft. S’not your fault, mate, I shouldn’t really be complaining as much as I should be providing alcoholic beverages and ice cream for my broken-hearted friend,”

“Niall, you don’t need to-”

“Either way, I’ll get ice cream and alcohol for myself if you don’t want any,”

Liam laughed and nodded once, Niall was an idiot, “Oh fine then,”

Niall shot him a grin and hopped down off the wall, trotting to the newsagents where he could purchase a large tub of Ben and Jerry’s for £3 and some form of innard-destroying alcoholic substance that he could get without being ID’d.

He returned and pushed a bottle of a neon-blue looking drink into Liam’s hands, smiling at him as he peeled the lid off the ice cream, “Damn, there’s only one spoon,”

“It’s alright,” Liam unscrewed the cap on the bottle, wincing as he took a sip. He imagined what wonders would this do to his kidney, “I’m not particularly hungry.”

“More for me then!” Niall chirped, trying to carve a spoonful out of the frozen-too-hard ice cream.

Liam laughed, taking another swig and slid down off the wall so he was standing beside Niall, “What time is it?”

“Time to get a watch,”

“Dickhead. No, really?”

Niall chuckled, pulling out his phone and facing the screen towards Liam: _15:47  
_

“Shit,” Liam said hurriedly, abandoning the bottle on the wall to pick up his bag from where it had been abandoned in the grass, “I gotta be back by four.”

“So, how long are you actually grounded for?” Niall asked.

Liam shrugged, “Dunno. Look, I’ll see you later- yeah?”

“Yeah, later,” came the reply as Liam gave a little wave, heading down the road to get home as quickly as possible before questions would start being asked the second he walked through the door.

 

 

He tried his best not to be a stranger, as Louis said. They still exchanged tentative smiles as they walked past each other in the corridor, and initiated polite small talk whenever they found themselves in a situation that called for it. But it was making Liam’s head hurt and his chest ache talking about “Oh how’s revision going?” or “Nice day out today, isn’t it?” when he knew what Louis’ lips felt like on his own and how it felt to have him cuddled up and tucked into his side as they fell asleep.

 

 

His father always seemed so much more on edge these days, especially about the football. Coaching football was supposed to be a hobby, aside from the nine-to-five job he worked, but recently it just looked like Geoff was approximately four times more stressed.

Liam avoided him where he could, never bringing up what his sister had sat down and told him. Well, being Ruth, she had to do _something_ to make him feel better. He just nodded and answered his dad in using as little syllables as possible. He never mentioned Louis, and Geoff didn’t ask.

 

 

Liam was itching to go boxing, hop on the balls of his feet and swing punch after punch at the bag until his knuckles began to ache even through the thick padding of the gloves. However, being grounded, of course, he couldn’t.

 

 

“Louis doesn’t cry,” Harry told Liam one afternoon as they sat hunched over textbooks in a free period they shared on their timetables. “Or at least he never used to.”

“Harry…” Liam began, the guilty feeling seeping inside his stomach.

“I was just saying. Not at you but… I don’t know what I’m supposed to say to him? How do you be a good friend to someone who’s lost the two things he loves most in the world, both at the same time?”

“Tell him I’m sorry.”

Harry laughed quietly, sadly, “No, you don’t need to be. Look, _I’m_ sorry,” he shook his head. “Shouldn’t have bought him up.”

Liam didn’t say anything, dropping his head and turning a page in the text book, pretending to be engrossed in reading so he didn’t look up and catch sight of the boy with the floppy fringe outside kicking his ball at the wall, shoulders hunched.

 

 

The idea that Louis had lost out on his dream had long since begun eating him away from the inside. Liam was going insane.

“Hi Dad,” Liam said one night after the Rovers had lost yet another match and his father was sat in the armchair aimlessly flicking through the channels on telly.

“Hello,” Geoff replied, stopping on a documentary about mountains in the Himalayas and turning to face Liam who slowly sat down on the couch ( _where he first kinda-kissed Louis_ ; he thought).

“How’s, um,” he rubbed his hands on his trousers, pulling his feet up so he was sitting cross-legged. “So, how’s football?”

“The boys have played better but,” Geoff shrugged, not even finishing the sentence.

Liam paused, trying to think from exactly which angle to approach this, “Can I ask you something?”

“Of course you can,” his dad muted the TV, his attention now fully on Liam.

“Well, like, do you remember that time we went fishing? We got the little boat out and we went and we pushed it out onto the lake, yeah?”

“I remember,”

“And, like, do you remember there was that fish I caught? And it wasn’t the biggest fish in the world but, like, for a first go I think it was pretty good?”

Geoff nodded, a hint of a smile on his face.

“Then do you remember on the other side of the bank,” Liam paused again, curling himself tighter on the couch, “there were that couple. Those two guys and…”

“Liam-” Geoff started but Liam shook his head, determined to continue.

“No let me finish. There were those two guys and you said something,” he recalled. “you called them ‘faggots’ or something, but, like, I don’t know if you could see their faces but they looked really happy. They looked like they were so comfortable around each other and pretty damn happy with one another,” he stopped, story trailing off and dropped his hands to his lap, looking down.

He heard his father take a deep breath, or maybe he was sighing, then he spoke quietly, “I’m sorry, Liam.”

Liam’s head snapped up and he stared at his father for a moment with bewilderment.

“You’re my son, my only son. And I know I’ve probably said some rather shit things without even realising it. But, Liam, you’re still my child and I love you no matter what, okay? I d-don’t ever think those things about you, like badly, and I-”

“Don’t cry, Dad!” Liam could’ve almost laughed but he held out his hand to shake his father’s arm.

“Not crying.”

“You don’t hate me?”

Geoff shut his eyes and shook his head vehemently, “Not at all. Not for a second,”

“Not even,” Liam kept his hand there, “even if I am gay?”

“God, I don’t understand it, Liam. It’s weird. But I do not hate you,”

“It’s not weird, Dad,”

“Sorry- I didn’t mean to offend you… I just meant… like, you’re a teenage boy. Aren’t you supposed to think boobs are the greatest thing in the world?”

Liam laughed, an actual proper laugh and buried his face in the cushion on the arm rest. “That’s not what I…” he started, shaking his head, “No.”

With a totally perplexed look on his face, Geoff stared at his son before smiling a little too. “C’mere,” he said, standing up and Liam got up too, walking into his father’s embrace and hugging him tightly. Part of him wanted to ask about Louis but he decided not now. One step at a time… and he’d get there.


	19. Chapter 19

 

Liam figured he wasn’t grounded anymore after that. He continued being a bit careful around his father, but it was easier now at home. At school it still sent a pang vibrating through his heart when he saw Louis across the corridor, hair plastered to his forehead from the rain outside and smiling at his friends, but Liam was trying his very best not to let his eyes wander that way. He hoped he’d get better at it with time. He also hoped Louis wouldn’t go off and find a super-hot boyfriend who Liam would have to watch him hold hands with and look at the way he used to look at Liam. 

It’d been about three weeks since the conversation with his dad and about four since he and Louis got discovered. It was okay though, he told himself, one day he’d be able to get to sleep at night without missing Louis’ warm little body tucked under his, like had happened whenever Louis fell asleep as they tried to watch a film or something.

 

 

“I want Louis to get his place back on the team,” Liam announced as he and Zayn sat at the back of the classroom in form time. 

“Liam, you know the more you think about him the more you’ll keep hurting,” Zayn dropped his phone and glanced at Liam with sad, sympathetic eyes. Liam really didn’t want sympathy.

“I know,” he said, “I just… it’s just that he deserves it.”

Zayn didn’t say a word for a moment, like he was waiting for Liam to say something else, “Well, speak to your dad about it.”

It’s not that Liam hadn’t considered that option, he had done a thousand and one times, it’s just that his father was only barely warming up to the idea that Liam was gay and trying to wrap his head around that. He didn’t need his son turning up asking for his former boyfriend for the place back on the team he’d got kicked off of because of said son. “I guess,”

Zayn smiled and clapped Liam’s shoulder, “What’ve you got to lose? What’ve either of you got to lose?”

 

 

Louis had since taken up helping out with the year 7’s football team on a Friday after school, and whenever Liam stayed behind to study a bit longer in the library he could see him waving his arms around telling them to run laps around the field, or crouching down to wipe splotches of mud off little faces and, of course, Liam could never forget how good he was- _is_ with children.

Stuffing his English book back in his bag, giving up on Shakespeare, Liam rose to his feet, wincing as the chair made a sound as it scraped back on the floor in the all-too-silent library. It was almost 4:30 and the year 7’s practice would be over soon when they’d all scatter off into the changing rooms, leaving Louis to pick up the equipment.

Liam tugged his bag up his shoulder and walked out onto the field, picking up a few coloured bibs that had been left on the grass by his feet and going over to Louis, handing them to him with an outstretched arm.

Louis looked up and almost seemed shocked to see Liam standing there. He gave him a once over and then a small smile, muttering “Thanks,” before bending down to pick up a few cones.

“How are you, Louis?” Liam asked, keeping at a distance from him.

Louis shrugged and stood up straight, cradling an armful of equipment, “M’okay,” he said, “What about yourself?”

“I’m alright,” Liam replied, looking up at the rather ominous dark clouds that were beginning to crowd over the field, “I miss you,” is not what he meant to say.

Louis froze, staring at Liam with that large-eyed, sad face he’d perfected, “Liam, I-”

“No- wait. Sorry, I,” Liam cut him off, “Shit, sorry I didn’t mean to say that. I just- just wanted to talk to you about something- I, god, sorry,”

Louis frowned but didn’t take his eyes off Liam, “Okay,” he said quietly, “What is it?”

“I just,” he took a moment to figure out the right words in his head, “I need to speak to my dad about something and it would probably help a lot if you were there… I mean, you don’t need to say or do anything, just, like, come with me?”

Louis watched his face for a while longer, frowning deeper before he nodded, “Okay,”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, okay,” he nodded again, “Alright. Now, c’mon, help me get all this stuff back in the storage cupboard,” he bumped Liam’s shoulder with his own and passed him half off the bibs he was holding, and Liam smiled.

“Thank you,” he said.

Louis pulled open the door, “Mhmm,” he hummed, dumping all the equipment in a pile on the floor, Liam followed suit.

 

It wasn’t hard for Liam to stop himself reaching out and lacing Louis’ fingers through his own as he walked home. That wasn’t something they’d ever used to do anyway. It’s just that he couldn’t stop imagining what it would be like if he could.

Liam called hello to his parents as he pushed open the front door, Louis hovering a bit for a minute before he followed Liam in.

“Oh, Liam, you’re back. I was wondering where you got to. I need a hand in the garden taking-” his father appeared from the front room talking, but stopped and froze solid when he spotted the two standing in the hallway.

Louis ducked his head and stood back as if he was trying to hide behind Liam who took a bold step forward, even if bold was the very last thing he felt, “Don’t worry, Dad, it isn’t anything what it.. I, like, I just wanted to ask you something.”

Geoff nodded slowly, still watching Louis who shied a little further back, looking down and shuffling his feet.

“Maybe,” Geoff began, “we should go in the kitchen.”

Liam nodded and led Louis the way through, and all three sat down on the rickety wooden chairs around the table, Louis on the side in between Liam and his father.

Clearing his throat, Liam shifted a little in his chair and glanced down at his hands clasped in his lap, _‘what have either of you got to lose?’_ , “I haven’t really spoken to him about this, but maybe you could give Louis his place back on the team?”

“What?” Louis bolted upright, turning to face Liam.

“Like, I know you probably won’t want to- especially after what’s happened… but, me and him isn’t a thing anymore and Niall said that The Rovers are crap without him, no offense, and he’s so good and you need him and it’s just…” Liam was looking at Louis now, who was sitting open mouthed, “He deserves another chance, doesn’t he?”

Louis blinked and tried to speak, “I-” he fell quiet. 

“Where are you going to find another player like him and where’s he going to get another coach like you and just- maybe, try?” Liam’s voice was shaking and he tore his eyes off of Louis to see what his father’s reaction was.

Geoff was frowning, but he didn’t look angry. He was watching Louis carefully before he glanced back to his son, “Well, I’ll tell you Horan wasn’t lying.”

“Look, it’s just one more chance? Let him have a go back on the team?” 

Louis looked as if he was on the verge of tears. He shook his head and when he spoke his voice was quiet, “I don’t need to get back on the team,” he said, “I just need…” he trailed off, reaching his hand out and fumbling to find Liam’s, the ‘ _you_ ’ going unspoken. 

Liam’s breath caught in his throat and he looked down and where Louis’ hand was resting atop of his own.

The whole room was silent and Liam could feel his heart hammering as he slowly lifted his gaze back up to his father who was watching them, baffled. 

“Okay.”

Louis snapped his head up too and stared at Geoff, “Okay?”

“Okay, I’ll give you another chance, Tomlinson,”

Louis’ expression faltered a tiny bit and he gradually lifted his hand off of Liam’s, “I- well, I… that’s great but,” he said, stealing a quick glance back at Liam before back to Geoff, taking a deep breath and trying to brave himself, “but, the thing is, Coach, it’s that I’m in love with your son.  And, well, if I can’t have him then I’d rather not have the football. I’d rather have nothing at all than not have him.”

 _Oh god_ , Liam wasn’t breathing. He knew he was blushing and gaping and he wanted to see Louis’ face but he couldn’t take his eyes off his dad- waiting, waiting for some response…

Geoff’s lips were pursed into a thin line and he was watching Louis with his brow furrowed. The most serious expression plastered across his face and his eyes narrowed and-

“Okay.”

This time Liam sat up, “O- okay?”

“God, I don’t understand it at all…” he pinched at the bridge of his nose and screwed his eyes shut, “but I’ll tell you something,” Geoff was speaking cautiously, carefully, he looked like he was going to break down into tears, “I can’t stand to see you so upset all the time, Liam. Even if I do think it’s a bit odd that you like boys, you’re still my son and it hurts so much to see you upset. So if Louis is what’s going to make you happy then so be it. So I’ll learn to deal with it. And I’m sorry, Tomlinson,” he said, turning to Louis, “For all the crap about kicking you off the team. I was over-reacting and well, it’s not every day you walk in on your son lip-locked with your star player and I was shocked and I over-reacted. I’ll let you play again on one condition,”

Louis raised an eyebrow, “What condition?”

“You be careful with my Liam, alright?”

Louis’ face split into a grin and he leapt up, giving Geoff a short squeezey hug, “Oh god, yes, I will! Thank you, thank you, thank you!” he beamed.

Liam’s whole chest was swelling and his father made a small “hmph” at the hug but smiled brightly at Louis just the same.

“Thank you,” he nodded at his dad who grinned back at him.

“Oh and before I forget, Louis,” Geoff mentioned, “I’ve still got another guy coming to this Sunday’s match looking for lads to scout for DRFC; you up for it?”


	20. Chapter 20

 

Liam blew into his cupped hands and rubbed them together; _Christ_ , it was cold. He stood behind the white line along the pitch, watching the players disperse as the whistle signalling half-time blew. Louis wandered over, breath short and pushing his fringe out of his eyes and smiled at Liam.

“It’s going great, Lou,”

“God, I’m glad it is,” he replied, “It could really happen if it continues this way. Liam, it could _really_ happen. I hope I don’t fuck up the second half,”

Liam smiled warmly and shook his head, “You’ll be fine, silly, now _go_. You gotta speak to them.”

“Oh yeah, right,” Louis nodded, scampering off to the other end of the pitch where Geoff and the blokes come to have a look at this ‘super-talented kid’ they had the potential to sign. Louis glanced back over his shoulder at Liam, who gave him a wide smile and thumbs up, and grinned.

Liam hung back and saw Louis talking to the two men, nodding enthusiastically and waving his hands around as he always did when trying to explain something or talked about something with passion. His father was nodding in agreement to what Louis was saying, occasionally chipping in to say something. Both the guys observing seemed suitably impressed.

The second half the match re-started and Louis galloped back out on to the pitch, getting into position and scuffling his feet through the damp grass. They were playing some team from Nottingham who were apparently second in the division and “quite fuckin’ intimidating” according to Louis.

Liam saw Louis gesturing to Niall, who walked further out on the pitch, marking behind an opposing player. The whistle blew and it all kicked off; starting with the other team in possession of the ball, and they weren’t too keen on giving it up.

Josh went in for a brave tackle and ended up almost falling over in a clutter of tangled ankles, but when the other player managed to escape, still partially dazed, Niall managed to weasel the ball out of his possession. He kept it close by his feet, making his whole body small so as that nobody would be able to take it from him easily, and trailed it up along the left side of the pitch, looking around for somebody to pass to.

Louis managed to sidestep the tall lad who was trying to mark him from in front, running into an open space when Niall looked up and passed the ball in his direction. Liam loved to watch Louis when he had the ball in his control; holding it there with light, agile movements; face screwed up in determination.

Keeping it at his feet all the while, Louis dribbled it up right close to the box, took a step back in preparation and- - with a sneaky move from another player, the ball was back with the opposing team. Louis let out a frustrated huff and jogged back to where he’d originally been standing, nodding in the direction of a clear space to Michael.

One goal later from the other team and the game was at a draw. Louis had mud and grass stains all up his legs and his shirt was dirty and clinging tight to his chest; rising and falling with each shallow breath- and Liam was perfectly content to stand and watch his gorgeous, pink-cheeked boyfriend for the entire duration of the remaining match.

  
He gave Louis an encouraging smile, making a small motion to the right side of the goal where nobody seemed to be defending, and Louis caught on within a split second, beaming at Liam and slyly making his way over to the space.

After a precarious tackle that went his way, Josh had the ball under his control and tapped it down the pitch with the tiniest of kicks, when he spotted Louis. Coming close enough to set the potential goal up at the right angle for him, he nudged it over to Louis, who, without hesitation, smacked it straight into the opposite corner of the net, just scraping past the goalie’s head.

Louis’ expression was almost as shocked as that of the goalie’s, his eyes wide with the realisation that he’d done it. The Rovers were jumping all over him immediately and the ref decided to call an end to the game with a short, sharp trill on the whistle.

He didn’t mess it up. Liam knew he wouldn’t.

Louis had to literally unclasp Niall’s arms from around him, laughing as he freed himself before he got a chance to come up to the side-lines and launch himself into Liam’s arms, wrapping his legs around his waist.

Liam made a sound somewhere between a laugh and an “oof” as he hoisted Louis up to stop him slipping. “You did it, Louis,” he muttered, smiling into Louis’ hair.

Louis buried his face in Liam’s neck and Liam felt him let out a sigh of relief, “Yeah,”

“You’re brilliant,” Liam pressed a kiss to the side of Louis head and Louis laughed, dropping himself down to put his feet on the floor and grinning up at Liam.

“No _you_ are,” he poked Liam’s chest with a cheeky smile, “I love you,”

“Well that’s too bad,” Liam said, catching Louis’ hand and kissing him on the nose, “because I love you,”

“Oi, Liam,” Geoff was calling, “I’m going to need you to let go of my star player, we’ve got contracts to arrange,”

“This is real, huh,” Louis said, beaming, “Hey, Liam, you can be my cheerleader for every single match and they’ll show you waving pom-poms around on national telly,”

“Shut up,” Liam chuckled, hugging Louis back to his chest, “I’ll tell everyone that I beat you at Fifa,”

“No-one would believe you,” Louis pressed a kiss up to Liam’s jaw.

“Louis!” Geoff called again from somewhere over on the field.

Liam pushed Louis fringe out of his face and smiled at him, “I think you’d better get going, Beckham two-point-oh.”

“Oh my god,” Louis laughed, blushing, “I don’t think I’m quite there yet, babe,”

“Mm,” Liam shrugged, “one day. You’re fitter than he is anyway,”

Louis gave Liam a playful shove, rising up on his tip toes to kiss him whilst murmuring “Shut up,”

“Go!” Liam insisted, reluctantly pushing Louis off of his lips and in the direction of where he had people waiting for him.

Louis grinned, trotting back off across the field to them, stealing one look back at Liam and poking his tongue out.

Liam laughed and shook his head, watching Louis walk away with pride swelling within him and yeah, he’d made it.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there we go :) it shouldn't have taken me so many words or so long to tell this story but whatever, i finally got off my arse and forced myself to finish it and im glad this many people read it so hopefully it's not as awful as i thought but yeah


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